Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Building, Education

Location

47 Moore Ave, Mt Kisco, NY 10549, USA

Lat/Long

41.198670004708, -73.727241527374

Grant Recipient

Mount Kisco Historical Society

In 1852, Leonard Kirby, a relative of the prominent milling family, sold a small parcel of land, for twenty-five dollars, to the Trustees of School Districts in the Town of New Castle and Bedford, New York. A one-room schoolhouse, known as the Kirbyville School, was subsequently erected on the property. This school served the community until around 1894, when the district merged with another one.

The building was then sold to the Town of New Castle and converted into a town hall. A few years later, the Town of New Castle purchased land from Emily B. Adams in order to relocate the former schoolhouse building to the New Castle Corners neighborhood in the Village of Mount Kisco. On April 4^th, 1900, the town received permission to have the former school moved on its foundation to New Castle Corners. The building was moved and renovated shortly afterwards. The structure then served as a polling place for the first election district of New Castle.

In the early 1970s, the building was restored and turned into a senior job center by Senior Services of Family Service of Westchester Inc. Several years later, the building was adapted into the Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry. The pantry was eventually forced to close its doors when the building was “declared unsafe for occupancy” in 1998 (“Mount Kisco Food Pantry Searches for a New Home,” 1998). The deteriorating structure was then repaired and converted to its original purpose as a replica of the original schoolhouse. The schoolhouse museum continues to be maintained by the town. It educates students and other community members about schooling in the 19^th century.

Sources:

Mount Kisco Food Pantry Searches for a New Home. (1998, October 8). Patent Trader.