Little Red Schoolhouse celebrates history with event
History lessons were again taught Saturday afternoon at the Little Red School House, 200 E. Jefferson St.
As part of the open house put on by the General Richard Butler Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, local historian Steve Cicero spoke on the history of the school house and student life in the 19th century.
Donna Croft, the regent of the DAR chapter, said her group has had a long relationship with the historic building. From 1920 to 1942, the school house was the home of the General Richard Butler Chapter.
“The open house is part of our day of service, to educate the public about the Little Red School House’s historical significance,” Croft said.
Jennifer Ford, executive director of the Butler County Historical Society, which owns the building now, said, “The long-range goal is to raise money to mitigate some of the physical shortcomings of the building.
“The building needs lighting; the bricks need repointing. There needs to be scraping and painting of the windows,” Ford said.
Croft added that the national DAR organization has grants to help with the process, and the Butler chapter is in the process of applying for such a grant.
“It takes a while to write the grant proposal. Next year we hope to have the application ready,” she said. “Historic preservation is one of the goals of the chapter.”
Ford said the historical society used to have tours of the building for school children with guides in period dress, but that’s become increasingly rare because the school house needs bathrooms and better lighting to make it functional and safer for tours.
The Little Red School House’s present historic site status is just one of the many uses the building has served over time, Cicero said in his presentation to a packed schoolroom.
He said the building was the first public school in Butler County, built in 1838 in response to the 1835 Public School Act passed by the state legislature. The law mandated that each local government should provide a school and teacher.
“It was compulsory to provide the school, but it wasn’t compulsory for students to attend,” Cicero said. “Many parents felt it wasn’t necessary for girls to learn more than domestic skills, and besides they were needed to help at home.“
Boys were needed at the farm or family business. “They were expected to carry on their fathers’ business or farm,” he said.
And many people in the community felt it was unfair to be taxed to build a school and pay a teacher. Cicero said Walter Lowrie, a Butler County teacher, politician and United States senator, was among those pushing for the school.
Parents were required to provide their children attending school with slates and slate pencils, which were often made by whittling a trough in a piece of wood, filling it with melted lead, and pulling the cooled lead out in the form of a slate pencil.
Students didn’t have desks. They sat on logs split to make benches. Water was drawn from a well at the Little Red School House and shared through a communal cup. The well is covered now.
Cicero said students walked to the school, which was then on the outskirts of Butler. The school day lasted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. giving the students enough time to return home to complete their chores before dark.
Classes concentrated on teaching the three R’s — reading, writing and arithmetic — with little time spent on subjects such as history or geography.
School classes ended at the eighth grade. Cicero said it wasn’t unusual for students as old as 21 to be in eighth grade. It wasn’t because they were backward, he said. They were trying to fit in their education around time taken out for planting, harvesting or other tasks at home.
“It was a sign of dedication,” he said.
The Little Red School House was a school from 1838 to 1873, when the city’s population growth. Taking its place was the three-story Jefferson School, which lasted until it was torn down in the 1950s. Only the steps leading down to Jefferson Street remain of the school.
The original school house cycled through many uses. It was the home for the janitor of the Jefferson Street School, a school superintendent’s office and the Butler Area Public Library from 1908 to 1921, when it became the DAR chapter house.
Cicero said that during World War II, the building was the local Red Cross headquarters.
“There are six churches near the school. Because it was the edge of town, this was designated a civic area for churches and schools,” Cicero said.
“There’s amazing history all around us. You just need to know where to look,” he said.
Ford and Croft said people wishing to contribute toward the upgrade of the Little Red School House should contact Croft at donnaleecroft@gmail.com.
