Students sit in the Loveland School in the Town of Albion about 1900. It was torn down more than 60 years ago [1940's].
Loveland School
This photo is from around 1900 shows the interior of what was known as the Loveland School in the Town of Albion. It was a Cobblestone building located near the railroad crossing on Gaines Basin Road that was torn down more than 60 years ago.
This was one of the first rural districts to in effect "centralize" with Albion. In 1908, they contracted with Albion and hired William Howard to bus the students into town using a horse drawn wagon type of bus.
Our picture indicates that the students sat at double desks with older students in the rear of the room. Double desks were the normal form of seating for pupils in one-room, rural schools where various grades were taught under one teacher. Students could quietly work together while others were receiving instruction from the teacher. In some cases, the teacher relied upon older students to assist the younger ones in their studies, hence the double desks were an advantage to all concerned.
When the Loveland School was built in the mid 1840s, Orleans County had 132 school districts. Following the completion of centralization here in 1953, we ended up with a present total of five districts. It seems the New York State Education Department laid out the state into areas of four square miles each with the schoolhouses located about in the middle of each area so students did not have to walk at the very most more than two miles. Once busing came about, the rural schools were no longer necessary and the face of American education was drastically changed.
Bethinking of Old Orleans, Vol. XXVI No. 36, by Cary H Lattin, former Orleans County Historian, The Medina New York Register Journal, Medina New York, 9/2/2004.
Research courtesy of Karen Crandall.