Districts
SCHOOLS IN ALEXANDRIA
SCHOOL DISTRICTS
An alphabetical listing of the school districts in the Town of Alexandria is found at School Districts~~~***~~~
More specific information about each school is given with the 2 clickable maps of the Town of Alexandria district schools, at NORTHEASTERN SCHOOL MAP and SOUTHWESTERN SCHOOL MAP. In order to have the school maps load at a reasonable rate, we have split the town of Alexandria in two parts. The information provided with the maps is taken in part from this page, and from a little notebook listing the various members of the Collins family, many of whom were teachers, and the districts and years they taught.
The third source is from material found in the Town of Alexandria Historian's office. D.D.T. Marshall, District Superintendent of the schools of Alexandria, Antwerp and Theresa, kept a record of his regular visits to each school, five times during the school year 1912-1913. He listed the teacher, and her training TTC is Teacher Training Class, in those days held in most high schools as a combination of senior year and teacher training. Normal meant that she graduated from one of the normal schools, such as Potsdam, which prepared teachers with two or three years of education beyond high school. Academic I assume meant that the teacher attended an institution such as Ives Seminary in Antwerp or Belleville Union Academy in Belleville. There were several such schools in Jefferson County at one time or another. Another rating was First. I believe that like my mother, the teacher held a First Grade certificate, the highest recommendation given out by the Teachers' Training Classes. It was a permanent license. The teacher did not have to have further training, and to the dismay of at least one elementary school principal in the 1950s, she could return to teaching after an absence of 40 years with no upgrading.
Mr. Marshall listed the teacher's salary per week, averaging around $10.00. He gave the trustee's name, valuation of the district, and rate of tax. He noted the equipment and improvements needed, usually in conjunction with a discussion with the trustee, such things as a globe, flag, library, maps, slate boards, book case or shelves, floor, desks, outside closets, condition of the grounds, number of pupils registered.
Perhaps a word about the trustee, an important person in the district. As with school boards today, the trustee served without pay, was responsible for the hiring of the teacher, the care and upkeep of the school, and the disbursement of funds. He (at this period it was generally a man) was elected at the annual school meeting. It was NOT a sought after job. The two other officials were a clerk to keep the minutes of the meeting and carry on any correspondence, usually a woman who had been a teacher, and a tax collector, almost always her husband. And almost always, the woman did both jobs, the collector merely signing the necessary papers.
The trustee usually acted on his own, and was generally very pasimonious with the district's money. Other than the clerk, the officers were farmers living in the district, and having usually no more than 6 grades of school, the customary district education. School meeting night was looked forward to by the youngsters as a time to play in the school yard without supervision and without classes. Even as late as the 1930s few schools had electricity, so the school meeting was held in the long evenings of spring, without artificial light. It was the one time in the year when the district met as a whole, and new-fangled improvements, such as a well, electricity, or school buses met with sharp opposition from those (some were illiterate) who believed that "readin' rots the mind!"
The following is after Mina King's articles in The Thousand Islands Sun, courtesy of Jeanne Snow, editor. Quotation marks indicate Mrs. King's own observations. Remember that specific information from school superintendents' reports is given with the 2 clickable maps of the Town of Alexandria district schools, at NORTHEASTERN SCHOOL MAP and SOUTHWESTERN SCHOOL MAP. See above.
DISTRICT NUMBER 1
also called Bean Hill, was established by the Germans. It seems that the location was on top of Bean Hill and set back almost in a wooded area, not far from the New York Central Railroad on a road from Redwood to Butterfield Lake. This rural school had several teachers over the years, mainly from Redwood. Some walked the railroad track to reach the schoolhouse. In 1908 or 1909, the school was closed. Some pupils went to District Number 4, and some to Redwood.
DISTRICT NUMBER 2
was called the Bailey District. It was located on the Bailey Settlement Road just east of Alexandria Bay off Route 26. Erastus Bailey was one of the early residents there, and that explains the name.
DISTRICT NUMBER 3
was in Plessis. This was a two room building and always had two teachers when operating. Plessis is a small hamlet, but this building with two rooms was well equipped to care for the grades.
DISTRICT NUMBER 4
was one of the early schools. "I have no dates, but I did find from an old Jefferson County History that Thomas Benton Marshall had taken up a farm almost to the county line on Route 37, and was married to Sarah Jane Peck." It is possible that this school flourished before 1860. As a William Schnauber family lived at the junction of the road and near the schoolhouse, the name Schnauber was given to the district.
Most of the early settlers there were German families who took up land to clear and produce a good living. They prospered: the schoolhouse was larger than most rural buildings, having three windows on each side and two in the rear. The school was used for worship, as there was no Lutheran church. From all reports, the services were conducted in German.
An unidentified clipping from the Town Historian's office states: The Schnauber's Corners school district number 4 annual meeting was held on Tuesday night, May 7 [1963?] at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Flath. Twenty three voters were present. Officers elected were: Merrill Hunneyman, trustee; Laura Flath, collector, and Louis Panunzio, clerk.
DISTRICT NUMBER 5
was in Alexandria Bay. Mrs. King's mother attended school there. She said that the building was then about where the Methodist Church is now located [corner of Church and Rock Streets.] It was a two story building with grades on the ground floor. A new building was erected across the street from the the church. It was a wooden structure with two or three floors.
Later this was torn down and a brick building erected. When that became outmoded, it was used by the village for offices and the fire department and a yet larger brick building was erected on Bolton Avenue about 1929, which has been continually added to until the present date. More information.
DISTRICT NUMBER 6
is located near Browns Corners on the Wills Road at the intersection of a road going to Jewett's Corners, which is now gone. Mrs. King's mother taught there at age 16. She began to teach the first term on May 5, 1872 for $2.50 per week. She had about twenty pupils, some nearly her own age. We have a reminiscence of this school by an early teacher
DISTRICT NUMBER 7
was at Barnes Settlement. The district was laid out on April 25, 1838, even before Alexandria Bay, which was 1840 by a school record. Later on, at one time each had the same number of pupils. Barnes Settlement had seventy-one and Alexandria Bay had seventy-seven. The schoolhouse was first located at the junction of Alexandria Center and the road to Alexandria Bay [present Route 26?] on the right side of the road opposite the Babcock farm house. It burned and a stone building now stands on the opposite side of the corner on the road leading to District 6. Mrs. Herrick remembered the Barnes Settlement School.
Mrs. King's mother taught in that school a long time before she was married in 1885. She had night school for penmanship for those who wanted to write better. The school was also used for church services and was well attended. Mrs. King herself taught for her first time there, and walked back and forth from Goose Bay, her home, which was three miles each way.
"I remember three young men who got their work certificates in the spring. I was sorry that they had to do this for I knew their education in school was completed, and they were only fourteen years old."
DISTRICT NUMBER 8
was called Tanners Corners School.
DISTRICT NUMBER 9
is located at Browns Corners The schoolhouse is no longer there, but some town buildings have been put up near the same location, which is about two miles from Redwood on the road to Alexandria Bay. More
DISTRICT NUMBER 10
was the Collins Landing school, which stood on the road now going to the Thousand Island Bridge. It was not far from the home of Frank Collins who lost his home and motel when the entrance roads were constructed to the bridge. The Collins family supplied both teachers and pupils for this school.
DISTRICT NUMBER 11
was called the Gore District and is located on a road which goes to Omar. This seems to be a rough, hilly part of the town, but a good farming area. The schoolhouse is long gone. A snapshot
of one year's pupils, perhaps 1918? has been provided to us by Greg Hall.
was in the Baucus Settlement, located in nearly the center of the township. Early settlers were James Hardy and his wife, Emma. They had three children, George, Lulu and Arlena. Charles Hunter and his wife, Hazel, and their children, Roy and Helen also resided in this section. Roy later took over the farm with his wife, Katherine Beebee. Their children were Leon, Dennis, and Gary. Leon is now living on the farm [1990].
Also living in the area were Walter Sprague and Addie, and their daughter, Elzina. Near them were Adolph Hanni and wife, Elsie, with their children, Edward, Matilda, Bertha, and Martin. Cushman and Flossie Sprague and John Sprague and daughter, Lucy Hotaling with her two children, John and Sevilla.
Louis Zimmer and his wife, Sarah and children Valentine, Henry, Fannie, Marguerite, Korleen and Lois were also area residents along with Karl Roeder and wife, Mary, and daughter Margaret. Martin Hanni and Cora lived near the schoolhouse wich is still owned by their son, Jay Hanni, and has been made into a home. Martin and Cora's children are: Jay, Kurt, Linda and Craig.
One of the pupils of this district provided a list of teachers:
Mabel Hinds
Bertha Dietrick
Mabel Stuart
Ruth Runions
Ethel Tilly
Lottie Hough
Maude Shannon
Anna Burns Hall"
DISTRICT NUMBER 13 was at Swan Hollow. The schoolhouse was built on a flat rock now occupied by the town offices, including that of the town clerk, just outside Alexandria Bay on the Goose Bay Road. The golf course is directly across the road from the location. The school burned in the 1940s. Quite a large area was included in this district, so the children had a long walk or ride to get to school. The area included Dingman Point, Reester Hill, and Swan Hill neighborhoods. It also took in many of the Thousand Islands, which made it one of the richest districts in the state, which never could be inferred from the scanty resources of the school itself. See more here.
DISTRICT NUMBER 14
was the Jewetts District, which was located bout three miles north of Redwood. There is an abandoned road which went over three bridges to the Jewett home, which stood very near the road going to District Number 6.
DISTRICT NUMBER 15
was in Redwood. Each day all grades came together for a short opening program of flag salute, singing, and scripture reading. This way of teaching was more like the country school; and students also learned by listening to others in the advanced classes. There were two floors in the stone school building that was built some years later, pictured here from Mr. Wingerath's Post Card Album. The study room was upstairs. It had double seats for eighth grade to highschool students. Names of early teachers and their salaries have been preserved in a document found in the Town Historian's office.
DISTRICT NUMBER 16
was called Dean District.
DISTRICT NUMBER 17
was the Harte School District. Their school was a well constructed building on the road to Tanners Corners.
DISTRICT NUMBER 18
was the Goose Bay School. The schoolhouse was on the road leading to Redwood from Hibbards Corners. It was first placed upon a small knoll near the Fitzsimmons property, but the playground wasdown the road and across. After a few years the building and the woodshed were put on the playground lot, and a well for water was drilled for school use.
At the back of the old school were two outhouses. Each was a "two holer," but only one student at a time was allowed to go during the school hours. There was a separate building for wood which was nearer the front door, as in the winter that old box stove had to be kept filled to keep all of the students warm.
Mrs. King recalled a map on a metal rack which had several charts, some for reading first grade work and also some for arithmetic to figure. "This was the extent of the material furnished by the district. Other material was furnished by the teacher, and she bought that herself. We did a lot of blackboard work, and used our slates at our desks.
"Barnes Readers were the books that I learned to read from. They had a good variety of stories. The Little Match Girl was one in particular that I liked. I remember listening to subjects that the teachers gave to older pupils. Jennie Ritter read to her class all about Confucius. I should have been studying my own work, but I liked this wonderful man, and in later years I had to study early educators like him--and "remembering what I had learned was valuable.
"Required subjects were: reading, writing, arithmetic, English, physiology [health,] drawing, geography, history, spelling, and sometimes little extra things like recitations and singing. Most schools had no libraries, but a few books were made available to us now and then, and we did enjoy every one of them."
Town Historian Hazel McMane made a more modern view of the interior of the school available to this site.
DISTRICT NUMBER 19
was the Sourwine School, near the Elmer Sourwine farm on the road from Redwood to Alexandria Bay. It has been torn down.
DISTRICT NUMBER 20
was on the Creek Road at the junction of Jack Street Road, just outside Plessis.
DISTRICT NUMBER 21
was on the lower part of Wellesley Island, near Densmore Bay. When it ceased to be used as a school, it was turned into a community meeting place, and is now a fire hall.
DISTRICT NUMBER 22
or Scriba, was in the northern part of the town. Some property there borders the St Lawrence River and Kring Point State Park. George Kring owned the state park land. The schoolhouse was built on the Harder property and is now gone. It burned.
DISTRICT NUMBER 23
was the last school to be made in the Town of Alexandria. They called it the Thistle District after a cheese factory by that name very near the school. It was located near the Cole Hill going into Calaboga. The settlement was once called Dutch Settlement, as many German people lived there.
If you have additional information, comments, pictures, or suggestions, please contact:
Nan Dixon Can you remember names of families, students or teachers for any of these schools?
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