Drive Through History: Schoolhouse Stories

During the 18th and 19th centuries, one-room schoolhouses were the heart of American education. In Columbia County alone there were more than 100 school districts, each with its own single-room schoolhouse. A gradual shift toward today’s centralized school districts began in the 1920s, although many families strongly preferred the tight-knit, family-like learning environment these neighborhood schools provided. The County’s last one-room schoolhouse, Taghkanic Schoolhouse District #4, closed in 1965.

Like chalk on a blackboard, traces of that era can still be seen throughout Columbia County. Many schoolhouses have been converted to homes or barns. Some are museum sites. Others are abandoned, barely surviving in a state of near-collapse. But these relics offer a glimpse into a bygone time when teachers boarded with local families, children of all ages helped one another learn, and district schools were a source of immense community pride.