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ONE-ROOM SCHOOL

Program
NYS Historic
Subject
Education
Location
710 Sackett Lake Road, Thompson, NY
Lat/Long
41.609672, -74.748599
Grant Recipient
Town of Thompson
Historic Marker

ONE-ROOM SCHOOL

Inscription

ONE-ROOM SCHOOL
SACKETT LAKE CA. 1858-1943
JOINT SCHOOL DIST. THOMPSON
AND FORESTBURGH. SOLD TO
ACE HUNTING CLUB IN 1965.
LAST TEACHER DOROTHY SKINNER
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2018

Before education was mandatory in New York State, many counties and churches built school houses for primary education. The passage of the “Act to secure to children the benefits of elementary education” on May 11, 1874, required parents to enroll any children under the age of 14 in primary education under penalty of fines and possible loss of custody if they consistently refused to comply with the law. The act also prohibited the employment of children between the ages of 8 and 14 years old during any school hours. (Laws of the State of New York, 1874) This further spurred the construction of many schools. But due to the lack of infrastructure and the more basic curriculums of the time, schools did not start off as the centralized K-12 school districts we know today. Instead, one room schools with a single teacher instructing a mixed-age group of students were the norm. Sullivan County constructed a number of one room school houses beginning in the mid-19th century into the early 20th century, and in 1900 the county was one of the few in New York State that received more money from the state government for education, $24,430, than it paid towards the state. (Sullivan County Record, 1900) Most of these schools closed in the 1940s or ‘50s as modern school districts were consolidated.

The Sackett Lake one room school was established as early as 1857, when the trustees of the Joint Common School District of Thompson and Forestburgh bought the land of a pre-existing schoolhouse for one dollar, according to the Sullivan County Deed.

A former student who attended the school in the 1930s reported that the school closed in 1943, with Dorothy Skinner being its last teacher. A deed from 1965 shows that the Central School District #1 later sold the land that year to Ace Hunting Club, Inc. for $50.