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One-room schoolhouse is lesson in history
(by Joan Demirjian - January 07, 2010)
One-room schoolhouse is lesson in history
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
A one-room schoolhouse at Stafford and Munn roads in Auburn is being restored for new generations to appreciate. Built around 1858, it was sub-district No. 7 in Auburn's network of one-room schoolhouses.
Still on the same property, it was moved back from the corners in 1936 by the late Myrle H. Davis.
The school is being restored by the Fugman family with the help of friends. Jean Fugman, daughter of Mr. Davis, and her daughter, June Fugman, have researched the old schoolhouse's history.
The original school bell has been put back in place, and they will be working on the inside. Mr. Davis put away the bell many years ago for safe keeping in the barn. It was raised to the rooftop last summer.
Jean Fugman's great-grandfather, William Richards, bought the farm in 1869 from the Hiram Brewster family.
Her grandmother, Alta Richards Davis, taught at the school, and her father, Myrle Davis, and her uncle, Verne Davis, attended the school.
She has photos of them with their class, and one of their classmates was Edna Davis Timmons. "She was my father's cousin, and she lived up the road," Mrs. Fugman said.
About 12 to 15 students attended during a school year.
In those days, families lived nearby, and everyone north of the corners on Munn Road was related in some way, Mrs. Fugman said. Most were all dairy farmers.
Public schools are outgrowths of churches, Mrs. Fugman said. The first buildings that went up were churches in early settlements and some were used for classrooms for the few children, she said.
Her grandfather, Henry Clay Davis, bought the Auburn schoolhouse from the school district when the district consolidated in 1903. He paid $81.50, which included a woodshed, and the bell was an additional $2.95, according to an old receipt.
The district moved the schoolhouse desks to the Auburn School at Auburn Center after the consolidation.
A daily registry book from 1863, in which the teacher wrote in script and kept attendance, listed supplies and books and even who brought in cordwood to heat the school in the winter.
The schoolhouse was moved back from the corners in 1933 when the house that the Fugmans live in now was built.
Garage doors were installed on the building and it was used for husking corn, Mrs. Fugman said. Before that, it was handy for storing sap buckets.
Her sons, Frank and Roger Fugman, have been involved with the work on the building and did restoration with help of friends. Grandsons Bill and Phillip also helped. Friend Gary Roark put on siding after the lean-to was removed, and Bob Bender also installed siding. Bob Schultz put in the concrete floor for the building.
Ernie Farrow did carpentry work and David Shively built a new bell tower, patterned after the original, she said. Joel Kulish, of Mantua, painted the bell, and said it was the oldest object he ever worked on.
Dennis Bergansky helped with the roof and Wayne Weber painted the schoolhouse last fall. Mr. Shively also installed an American flag that flies over the school, according to the Fugmans.
Eventually, a wood floor will be installed, along with a wood stove.
June Fugman said the original wainscoting is still in the schoolhouse, and her grandfather, Myrle Davis, wrote his name on the walls as did other classmates. They are faded, but still visible.
She has been buying old school desks from flea markets and has collected old books for the schoolhouse.
They will display old photographs on the walls and if people want to donate photos, especially of old Auburn buildings, or books, they will display them in the schoolhouse.
She said an inspiration for their restoration work was Mae Beringer, of Mercer, Pa., who was 100 years old when she died recently and had formerly taught in a one-room school. She gave Ms. Fugman several old school books.
"She had fascinating stories to tell," Ms. Fugman said. "This country was founded by people with one-room educations.
"It's a work in progress," Ms. Fugman said of the schoolhouse restoration. "Eventually it will be a nice place for family to gather and for others to see a one-room school from the past. It will be living history."
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