NASHUA, NH — It may sound hard to believe, but I (and many of you) share something in common with these successful individuals: Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, the late Steve Jobs, Jay Z, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Larry Page, Jeff Bezos and Cindy Crawford.
We are all products of the public school system and proud of it, and that’s about where our similarities end, unfortunately for me. These famous figures remain quite an inspiration to many.
There is certainly nothing wrong with charter schools or private schools because all education is important and valuable to our children. But public schools often unfairly take the biggest hits financially and politically, and even the global pandemic has taken a bite out of the public education system.
The New York Times reported that America’s public schools have lost at least 1.2 million students since 2020, with those numbers coming from a recently published national survey.
In New Hampshire, student enrollment levels have not returned to pre-pandemic times. In 2020, enrollment dipped by 4.5%, which amounted to about 8,200 fewer students in one year, according to data from the New Hampshire Department of Education.
Still, most people believe in traditional public schools and feel a deep connection to them, and they remain the heart and soul of many cities and towns. Here in Nashua, the construction underway of a new middle school is considered a welcome addition to the community and appears to be supported by most residents.
One of my favorite historical structures in the Gate City sits quietly on a very busy road surrounded by numerous retail stores and eateries. I can bet that you have driven by this building hundreds of times or sat in traffic at the red light completely ignoring it.
It’s called District #1 Schoolhouse, and it’s located just after the entrance to Royal Crest Apartments and before the right turn to Royal Ridge shopping center on the Daniel Webster Highway. The former one-room country schoolhouse made of red bricks and granite steps is tiny with dimensions of 24 ft. by 30 ft., and yet, this unassuming building served as a public school for some 80 years.
Back in those days, it was a heck of a lot cheaper to erect buildings. Still, community support was needed even for “Little Red Schoolhouse” in Nashua. I learned from the website NashuaSchoolhouse.com that residents in the district decided to raise the money themselves to build a new District #1 in 1841. The cost totaled $629. The chosen site was right next to the Old South Burying Ground cemetery because the land was cheaper — just $75 for the lot.
There’s a one-room schoolhouse located in nearby in Hollis named Old Pine Hill Schoolhouse, District #3. There’s a total of about 90 one-room schoolhouses sprinkled throughout the Granite State.
These are historic gems, and we’re lucky that many of them have been nicely preserved. Our young students often get to visit these schoolhouses for a field trip and for a day of learning the old-fashioned way.
Former First Lady Barbara Bush once remarked that these first country schools helped children “learn a curriculum steeped in such values as honesty, industry, sobriety and patriotism, values we all cherish.”
These schoolhouses remain a symbol of America’s long-term commitment to the public school system, one that offers access to free education for every child in every community.
Each country schoolhouse still standing today is truly “a small wonder.”
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