In 1875, a one-room schoolhouse was located in the Hamlet of Ireland Corners, less than one mile west to the town of Gardiner. Known as District School Number 2, it was originally located along Marabac Road, just west of Route 208 in the southern portion of the hamlet.
Gardiner was created in 1853 by an act of legislature and was comprised of segments of surrounding communities in New Paltz, Rochester and Shawangunk.
The one room schoolhouse was built in Ireland Corners during that same era and was active during a period that saw a number of financial and academic reforms take place with the goal of improving the state’s rural school system. The state legislature took multiple steps to modify and increase financial aid to the system by enacting several procedures.
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In 1849, it passed the Free School Act, thereby eliminating the assessment of rates that were previously charged to the parents whose children attended a school. In turn, the law also enacted a process to establish a general real estate tax that was earmarked to support local schools.
In 1853, the Union Free School Act allowed school districts to fund individual educational facilities within their geographic boundaries if it agreed to establish a department for academic or secondary school education. Other reforms were introduced, such as installing larger windows to improve natural lighting in the building, raising classroom ceilings to enhance ventilation, and new construction measures designed to minimize and/or eliminate drafts in the structure.
Once the schoolhouse was relocated to Gardiner, it was situated on property in the center of town and served as one of 10 buildings that were used to provide education to children in the community.
The schoolhouse remained intact through 1893 when a second classroom was added to the structure to accommodate the increasing number of residents moving into the town. In addition to the added space, the building was enhanced with a corner bell/entrance tower and its exterior was redesigned to reflect more of a Queen Anne-style appearance.
The updates and additions that were accomplished resulted in a 1½-story wood frame building that featured an L-shaped layout and its entrance was positioned in its northwest corner. It boasted a steeply pitched roof and its exterior featured clapboard siding and overlapping gables on the tower, which served as the focal point of the structure.
Inside the schoolhouse, a vestibule enabled students to access either of the two classrooms. The rooms both featured plaster walls, wood wainscoting, window and door trim and varying moldings throughout.
“I attended Gardiner School from the first to the eighth grade,” said Meta Watts. “There were four grade levels in each room and we all helped each other.
“Students were assigned to pump and bring in a bucket of drinking water and firewood for the stove for heat in winter. When I graduated in 1953 we had the biggest class ever with five students.”
The school welcomed students from that latter part of the 19th century through 1981. That timeframe is a stark contrast to other one and two-room schools in the region, which typically closed during the 1940s and 1950s as large school districts were established.
Following the building’s use as an education facility, it was subsequently acquired by the municipality, resorted and modified, and utilized as town hall. It remains serving that purpose today.
“When town hall was renovated several years ago, my family requested that the school bell, which was removed from the belfry and was hanging on a sign outside town hall be placed back in the belfry,” said Town Supervisor Marybeth Majestic. “Gardiner resident and welder Rusty McCord volunteered his skills to spruce it up and my husband and children worked on the installation.”
The building, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, is located at 2340 Route 44/55, Gardiner.
Anthony Musso writes Dateline for the Poughkeepsie Journal. To suggest a topic, email him at railcommute@aol.com.
