This week and for the next several articles will be focused to the history that surrounds the schools that were and still exist in the Village of Guilford. With the settlement of what is now the village, the early pioneers, as has been written numerous times before, knew that their children needed to be educated. Previously written was the article relevant to the Ives Settlement School which was indeed primitive to say the least. In the village proper the first actual schoolhouse was just as primitive as it was a log cabin structure and you can only contemplate the fear that the children experienced attending this early educational institution, no real roads, the prevalence of wild life, bear, deer, bob cats, wolves, foxes, etc.
The first log cabin as has been written was built in 1810 - small, log cabin type building containing rough log benches and wooden desks.
This structure would not have a long life and by the year 1814 a “real” schoolhouse was erected for the huge price of $150.00 at the beginning of the Gospel Hill Road quite near the old underpass that was once the 0 & W railroad crossing. The unique site of the Hamlet, with the Guilford Lake (formerly known as Cable Pond -so named for the Cable family) and a rushing stream feeding off it, Guilford (or Fayette) was an ideal place for a settlement. The now “Guilford Creek” was a supply of both water and power and clean drinking water. With the arrival of many land-hungry people from the overpopulated east (New England) resulted in the town’s expansion. Many of the early settlers were veterans from the Revolutionary and War of 1812 who were given land grants in this area. More fortunate took their “bones” money and purchased acreage. With this settlement many pioneers brought with them the skills and expertise needed to this little community and started their businesses there.
With the population explosion, it was time to think about a better larger school. Quickly the little Log Cabin Schoolhouse became antiquated. The residents made the decision to build a new school. By 1814, a clapboard and shingle building replaced the log cabin. With this new “modern “school building it has window frames, real glass, stove in the center. But the most important aspect was it was larger and could accommodate more students. This new building was completed in time for the school year and some years later the rough, wood desks and benches were replaced with more modern desks and seats.
The late Mrs. Julia A. dark wrote a history “Guilford in Retrospect “which she read at the Women’ s Club of Guilford, October 11,1920. This was printed in the local paper. In this speech she explained, “The district school house in early years stood near the underground crossing of the railroad leading to the Gospel Hill Road. In fact, when surveyed, the line of the railroad ran right through the schoolhouse; I was teaching in it at the time of the survey. The district claimed such heavy damages of the railroad company, they said if they valued it so highly they might have it for a depot, so it was moved to the site of the present station, and for years served in that capacity -the worst looking station on the road until replaced a few years ago by the present structure. The photo with this article shows the depot in Guilford when it was still being used as a part of the now long gone O&W. This writer regrets no photo of the school at its original site!
By 1818 the Hamlet of “Dibbles Trading Post” a was called Fayette, so named after the Marquis De Layette, the young French nobleman who was of great assistance to George Washington during the Revolutionary War. By this date the school was known as District #14 - Fayette School. Legislation in 1817 would see the renaming of the town, people insisted on that name, rather than Guilford. With the establishment of the Post Office, necessitated that the name of Fayette be completely dropped. The village (town) of Fayetteville upstate had a prior claim to this designation.
Of historical interest, and not deterring from the school history, Guilford was so named after Guilford, Connecticut, that being so named after Guilford, England. To complete this circle of names in 1838 with the formal establishment of the Post Office, the die-hard residents finally had to give in to the name of Guilford. First postmaster was Erastus Dickinson, brother of the gentlemen who would later become United States Senator.
Stress of higher education had its effect on the rural, individual School Districts. Students from outlying areas came to Guilford for higher education. During the later part of the 19th century, a great deal of local students attended high school in Sidney for higher education. However many stayed in Guilford and studied in District #14, the school that was later to be expanded to the Union School.
Thus another segment of educational history of Guilford is not necessarily complete, there are many “mysteries of history” that will never be and answered, and we close with the statement “to be continued.”