Marker unveiled for historic schoolhouse
CRANBERRY — The Cranberry Township Historical Society unveiled a new historical panel in front of the Sample Schoolhouse near the modern Cranberry Township Municipal Building Tuesday morning.
The panel features text and photos, including a photo from the Butler Eagle's photo collection, depicting the schoolhouse both in its use as a classroom and as Cranberry Township's first ever municipal building.
Historical society representative Thomas M. Cully and President Roy Wagner, Cranberry Township Manager Dan Santoro and township manager emeritus Jerry Andree all spoke at the ceremony.
“I'm so blessed that we are in Cranberry Township, that we are here and everything that you do for us,” Cully said. He thanked everyone involved in making the panel a reality.
Andree and Santoro thanked the historical society in return.“Thank you to the society for making this all happen,” Andree said. “People always asked us: What does this building represent? It reflects the history of public education in Cranberry Township, as well as the history of municipal government.”“On behalf of the board of supervisors, we really appreciate the relationship that we've had with the historical society over the years,” Santoro said. “We're excited about the partnerships we're going to develop here. In Cranberry, we talk a lot about the future and future planning, but really what makes us who we are is our history and how we connect to the past.”
Bev Magill, a past president of the historical society who attended school at Sample School from 1945 to 1951, shared a few words about the site and her memory of her schooling there.“When I come back here, it's like coming home,” she said. “This schoolhouse looks exactly like it did in 1945.”Magill said that when she was a girl at the schoolhouse, older students would sometimes sit together in the front of the classroom while younger students were being assisted with their schoolwork.“It was always learning,” she said. “You were always learning what was going on when you were in the classroom.”The new plaque tells the story of how Sample Schoolhouse, built in 1874, was named for the original landowner of the property, James Sample. It was moved from its original Rowan Road location in 1999 to be located next to the current municipal building on Rochester Road.“Students would bring in coal from a shed to keep the stove warm in the winter,” the plaque details. “The school had a water pump, two outhouses and large windows to allow sunlight in before there was electricity.”
