Ringing the Bell:
Revisiting the One-Room Schoolhouse

The Groton Historical Society will host a program entitled “Ringing the Bell: Revisiting the One-Room Schoolhouse" at 7:30 P.M.  Tuesday, July 8, at the old Chicopee Schoolhouse Number Seven.  The guest speaker will be Susan Fineman who will talk about the advantages of preserving our remaining schoolhouses and illustrate how it is being accomplished nationwide.

Ms. Fineman serves on the Board of Directors of the Country School Association of America, which is dedicated to the preservation of schoolhouses within the United States.  In 2007 she hosted the Seventh Annual CSAA Conference at Rivier College and this year she was a presenter at Association’s eighth annual conference held at the home of William Holmes McGuffey (author of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers) in Oxford, Ohio.

Ms. Fineman is a former teacher and administrator who served the City of Lowell for 31 years. After she retired, Ms. Fineman became the “schoolmarm” of District No. One Schoolhouse in Nashua, N.H., where she offers living history programs to all fourth graders in the Nashua, Hollis, Bedford, and Hooksett Public Schools.

Chicopee School Number Seven:
This little red-brick schoolhouse located on the South side of Chicopee Row, about two miles up from Main Street, was constructed in 1833 by Captain Peter Nutting , replacing the frame building, known as Sawtell School, built and maintained with the proceeds from  Josiah Sawtell’s bequest to the town in 1785. This is that little red-brick schoolhouse located on the South side of Chicopee Row about two miles up from Main Street. Chances are, you’ve passed it numerous times and thought “Gosh, that looks like a one-room schoolhouse. “

Well, you were right.

Originally known as Chicopee School Number Seven, that little red (brick) schoolhouse was constructed in 1833 by Captain Peter Nutting  to replace a frame building  known as the Sawtell School on or near where the school stands today.

The original Sawtell School was constructed sometime after 1792 when the Town Fathers first organized Groton into 12 School Districts and began building wooden school buildings.  Sawtell School, the original frame schoolhouse, came into this world largely due to the generosity of Josiah Sawtell who bequeathed his property (then known as “the Hobart Place”) to the Town of Groton in 1785 with the stipulation that any proceeds from the Farm would be used to establish a school in the farmhouse on that property, presumably in perpetuity. 

The town ultimately sold the farm buildings and most of the land and used the proceeds to create the Sawtell School Fund that was used to build and care for the original school on that site. 

However, by the late 1820s, the town’s frame school buildings began to show significant signs of wear and they were replaced with more substantial brick structures. So the Chicopee School that is still very much with us today, was the product of an early movement to improve Groton’s Schools.

Then In 1869, Town Meeting abolished  Groton’s  individual school districts and as part of this progression, three larger schools were constructed:  the Chapin School on Hollis Street, which  is now used as a Legion Hall;  the Tarbell School in West Groton, and the Butler High School, on Main Street that was once located where  Prescott School now stands.

However, Chicopee School remained in use until 1916 when its teacher resigned and its four remaining students were driven (by automobile) to the (then) new Boutwell School on Hollis Street.

You can bet the events of that day were a great scandal.  I’m quite certain there are elements of that drama that continue to reverberate today, if anyone would care to listen.

Chicopee School survives as one of only three remaining Groton District School Houses, and as I write this, in 2008, it is the only remaining one-room school house that has not been appropriated for residential use in Groton.

After its closing in 1916, Chicopee School was used for Christmas parties, dances, reunions, workshops, and as a meeting place for neighborhood clubs.  And in the 1960s and 70s, a loyal group of trustees devoted themselves to the upkeep of the property and often had picnics there. In 1976, there were even some history classes that were staged at the School.

Then, in 2003, a vision of utilizing the schoolhouse for educational purposes led to the creation of the Sawtell School Fund Association as a 501 (c)  (3) Non-profit organization.  The designation allowed the Association to raise the funds necessary to replace the windows broken by vandals, replace a leaky roof, repair the chimney and repaint the building. 

Currently  Chicopee School is being re-wired and a security and fire system is being installed.  And soon, it is hoped, that elementary school children in the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District will have an opportunity to visit a recreation of the educational experience of their counterparts in the 19th Century.

This is the story of the little red schoolhouse that stands on the South Side of Chicopee Row. In many ways the revitalization of Groton’s last remaining one-room schoolhouse brings the story of Groton’s passion for education full circle. For in this chapter we pause to look back and remember where we’ve been, and to pay homage to the passion and hard work of all those who came before us.

It is a story that has its beginnings in 1681 when the Selectmen were directed “to take care that there be a school, or college, of learning of children the English tongue to read.” And it is a story that continues to be written today.