Again we return to the Coventry Road School to relate verbatim the speech that Mildred Folsom Cochrane gave to the fourth grade students at the request of her daughter-in-law Kay.

“A COUNTRY SCHOOLHOUSE” - Continued

In the middle of the back room in the alcove formed by the two cloak closets, was a low flat-topped stove which kept us warm in winter, in which we burned wood. A bench along the wall on each side of the alcove was used to sit on when we removed our rubbers. We usually ate there also. We all carried our lunches in little round pails, the most conspicuous ones being colorful (red, blue, yellow, green, etc.) Cream Dove (lard) pails, with the child’s name scratched on it. These were kept on a shelf in the cloakroom.
At noon as soon as we had finished eating we went out to play. Our favorite games were soft ball and goal, played in the front yard and Stealing Sticks in the back yard. Probably your fathers and mothers played the same games. In winter Fox and Geese was a lot of fun. Sometimes the teacher would play with us but she was usually too busy looking over papers. A short distance back of the school property was a brook and in warm weather we liked to go over there and wade in it, catch minnows and crayfish. How we hated to hear the bell ring, calling us back to school.
We always liked Friday afternoons because school let out at 3 o’clock, and from 1-3 that day we would recite poems that we had learned, played educational games, drew pictures or had spelling contests.
On the last day of school June we always had a picnic and invited our mothers and fathers who would come and bring sandwiches and cakes and a big freezer of homemade ice cream, and everyone would have a good time.
The girls had long hair then and both boys and girls wore long black stockings and high black laced shoes. In warm weather a few of them went to school barefooted.
Those little country schools are no longer used. Instead there is a great Central School in each village-just like the hub of a wheel-and down each road, like the spokes of a wheel, came large school buses bringing to school all the children from the country. That’s quite a change, isn’t it?
Now would you like to know a little about the first schools in Greene? Do you know when Columbus discovered America? Yes, in 1492. Remember that date because just 300 years afterward, in 1792 the first settlers came to Greene. All of these hills and valleys were covered with woods then, and there were only Indian trails, or paths, along the rivers. Do you know who the first settler was? His name was Stephen Ketchum. He and his wife and 5 children came from about 150 miles north of here. There was no road this side of Oxford so they had to build a raft there and come down the river on it. The boys drove their cows along the trail and they all met here in Greene where Birdsall Brook empties into the river. When you are down on the Athletic Field look up and notice that big stone barn at the upper end beyond the swimming pool. (Note: Is this barn still standing?) That is the spot where the Ketchum’s built their first house of logs. That was in the spring-just like now. In the fall several more families came and built more log cabins. Within 2 years there were quite a few families in Greene, and that meant a lot of children. As soon as their homes were built they began to chop down trees to clear the land so as to plant crops. Then what do you think they did next?
Yes, a school and a church were built next. For about 14 years school was held in a log cabin. This was located where the Parish House is now. In 1812 a new two-story red schoolhouse was built across the street where the Catholic Church is now. Twenty-two years later it moved to South Chenango Street near the Methodist Church. It took 20 ox teams to move the building. After it was painted white it was called the White School. Thirty years later, that one became too small and a larger one was built on Monell Street. Then in 1902 came the red brick high school and later, an addition which is still standing, and now this new South Canal Street School which is the largest and best of the entire six that have been built in the Greene during 160 years.
Since then two large new Elementary Schools have been built on the East River Road, the first in 1964, the second one in 1969-for Elementary and Primary grades-which leaves the South Canal Street building for Junior and Senior High and the old North Canal Street Building for school offices.”
This concluded Mrs. Folsom Cochrane’s speech to the fourth grade and it is sincerely hoped that all who read this, perhaps it will bring back pleasant and at times not so pleasant “school days’ memories.” In conclusion of Part 3 of the Coventry Road School, next we will be taking a look at yet more Greene school districts of the past!