Education is a foundation of a democratic society, and the 1895 History of Butler County makes clear that our first citizens believed this wholeheartedly.

“As early as 1810, this interest (in education) culminated in the establishment of an academy at Butler, giving a new stimulus to the cause of education in the young village,” the book reads.

Formal schooling predates the creation of Butler County in 1800, with the first known school opening in Clearfield Township a year before. The earliest schools were funded with “subscriptions,” to be paid for by those who had the means to do so.

The Pennsylvania School Act of 1824 recognized the limitations of this system and provided for the education of poor children. The Free Public-School Act of 1834 made a good education available to all children. Local governments were required to pass a tax to fund a building and a teacher. The basic skills included the “three R’s” of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Parents were expected to buy slate tablets and pencils for their children to use.

During the following decades, thousands of small log cabin schools were built all over the state. The 1838 “Little Red School House” in the city of Butler was the first public school in the county. Made of brick, which was rare at that time, it was a great point of pride in the community, and it is also the oldest one-room school still standing.

Free public education was not supported by everyone. Many wealthy people favored education only for the “well-born.” Some taxpayers objected because it cost them money. Non-English speakers worried their language and customs would be lost. Finally, there were those who had no use for “book-learning,” or for strangers who would teach their children different ideas.

Some families did not send their children to school because a formal education was simply not thought to be necessary. Many parents believed that girls would grow up, get married, and raise a family. They were often needed at home to help their mother with gardening and babies. Young women needed to know how to cook and do housekeeping. Boys often had to help the family in a store or on the farm. Young men only needed to know enough to carry on the work their father had done all his life.

As time passed, the value of educating all our citizens became clear, and public education was established as a basic right. The Education Act of 1854 required all counties to hold an election every three years for a school superintendent.

The primary task was to survey all the schools and determine their condition. The first Butler County superintendent, Isaac Black, issued a report in 1856 that listed “182 schoolhouses, eighty-four of which were unfit to enter; forty-one could be made tolerable, and fifty-seven were tolerable.”

Eighty buildings had ceilings under seven feet. Seventy-nine were log structures. More than 100 had no furniture “save the backless benches so high that the pupil’s feet could not reach the floor.” On a positive note, 14 had “suitable furniture.”

This description should not come as a surprise, given that early schools were primitive structures. Whether made of logs or cut wood, schools were usually dark and cold. Windows were often covered with greased paper that kept out some of the cold, but also blocked much of the light. The tremendous growth of the glass industry in Western Pennsylvania led to more schools having proper windows by the late 1800s.

Most one room schools had similar features inside. In the center of the room sat a potbellied stove with the children arranged on bench seats surrounding it. The students closest to the fire would be sweating while those near the walls would be freezing. Lunch for students was usually a piece of fruit or a piece of bread, wrapped in paper. Sometimes the sandwiches were placed on top of the stove late in the morning. By lunchtime the students would have a hot meal to eat!

The floors were frequently wood slats that had gaps in them like the outside decks on many houses today. Some of the surviving schools in our county have displays of the objects that were found under the buildings when they were repaired or moved. Marbles was a very popular game in the old days, and they are the most common artifact recovered. These were made from clay and baked at home or made by a local blacksmith.

There were no desks or chairs like those used in schools today. Most often students sat on benches created from split tree trunks. Occasionally there were long desktops, also made of split trees. This would have been slanted to write on or lay a book on it. Some schools had an area near the front door used as a “cloakroom.” There were hooks and shelves where the students would put their coats and winter boots before class.

Children had to walk to get to school, and this might be several miles depending on how far away the family lived. A large bell would usually sound at 8:30 a.m., as a warning that school would soon begin. Lessons started promptly at 9 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m. The children needed to be home before dark to help with chores.

There was usually a well near the school. Early in the morning, one of the boys might have the job of filling a wooden bucket with water for that day. Students frequently drank from a single cup or ladle. The dangers of contagious diseases were little understood at that time.

And the restroom? If you recognize the term Porta John, then you have a good idea of how things worked in the old days. Adults and children used outhouses, with one for girls and another for boys. Old-time outhouses had a hole in the ground with a bench sitting above it.

What about toilet paper? Many of our elders are happy to share stories of an old Sears Catalog nailed to the wall of their outhouse.

Over time, the number and condition of our county schools improved dramatically. The 212 schools listed in 1861 were all considered well-furnished for their 6,555 students. By 1872, there was not a single school that failed to meet the legal standards.

The 246 schools operating in 1876 employed 177 male and 175 female teachers. The salary for men averaged $38 per month while women were paid $30. Teaching was one of the few job opportunities available for women. If they married, that almost always resulted in dismissal by the school authorities.

Equal pay was not the only contrast with current schools. Another marked difference was the approach to discipline. Teachers were often hired because they were simply available, regardless of their ability as instructors. As a result, many were simply skilled at “being strict and in charge.”

This was also a time when teachers were viewed as “always right,” and a child who misbehaved at school was likely to receive worse punishment at home. Until very recently, corporal punishment was considered acceptable by school officials and parents alike.

The proverb “spare the rod and spoil the child” was a common refrain, and spanking a student on the backside with a wooden paddle or smacking hands with a wooden ruler were standard practices.

As educational books became more available, teachers were expected to supply these items with their own money. In 1855, a Butler County Teachers’ Institute was organized to create some unified educational practices.

Led by Black, they created a list of recommended books for use in the county classrooms. These included “McGuffey’s pictorial primer, spelling book, first, second, third, fourth, and fifth readers; Ray’s mathematics, McNally’s geography, and Pineo’s series of grammars.”

The Institute convened yearly and was a pioneer in creating standards to guide classroom instruction. But the random nature and frequent lack of school supplies remained an issue for many years. This problem was finally rectified in 1893, when the Pennsylvania legislature required all school districts to provide “the materials necessary for educating pupils, such as pens, pencils, textbooks, slates, and paper.”

Students were given a test in eighth grade to prove they had completed the regular school curriculum. Some students stayed in school until they passed the exam, regardless of age. For nearly a century, most students entered the workforce after their elementary years, while a few might continue their studies to become teachers or ministers.

High schools as we think of them today did not exist until the late 1800s. Before that time, the few secondary schools that existed were usually church related. By 1880, large scale heavy industries were growing, and more education was needed for nonfarm work.

The dramatic increase in the numbers of students began to force changes in the organization of public schools. Small one room schools were no longer adequate and were gradually replaced by larger buildings holding multiple grades in separate rooms. Most of those new schools remained open well into the twentieth century.

At the same time, the increased value of education led more students to remain in school longer and led school districts to create more specialized teaching of subject matter. This in turn led to specialized training for the teachers. Butler County was home to Slippery Rock Normal School which was a leader in this endeavor. The state purchased the school in 1926, and renamed Slippery Rock State Teachers College. Teacher training was then, and remains today, a major focus of that institution.

Another major shift in public education came after World War II when Pennsylvania ordered a consolidation of all the school districts in the commonwealth. That action was driven by a belief that small schools had limited curricula and were not providing a proper education. The current lineup of school districts in our county was largely a result of this decision.

In more recent years, the decline of heavy industries and resulting loss of population in our state has caused these same “larger” school districts to close many of their elementary schools. In some ways, this new series of consolidations mirrors the decline of one room schools.

No matter the changing shape or size of the schools in our county, one thing remains the same as it was when the first little schools opened their doors over two hundred years ago. The citizens of our county have always invested in the knowledge that Ben Franklin spoke of so highly.

As a result, Butler County students continue to receive an excellent education from the dedicated teachers and staff in our schools, and their future successes will be built upon that solid foundation.

Readers who wish to take a step back in time to the days of the one room school will find four wonderful places to visit in our county.

The Little Red Schoolhouse, built in 1838 is located at 200 East Jefferson Street in the city of Butler. It is one of three vital historical sites operated by The Butler County Historical Society. More information can be found on their website, by email at society@butlerhistory.com, or by calling 724-283-8116.

The Butler County Historical Society has also published a two-volume definitive history of one room schools in our county.

“School’s Out!” was published in 2010. It was written by Natalie A. Hall-Hiles and edited by Pat Collins. “School’s Over!” from 2012 was written by Pat Collins, researched by Natalie A. Hall-Hiles and edited by Brystal Gilliland.

Sample School, built in 1874, is located at 2525 Rochester Road in Cranberry Township. Originally located on Rowen Road, it was moved to the lawn of the Cranberry Township Municipal Center in 1999. It was refurbished for educational purposes and managed by the Cranberry Township Historical Society. More information can be found by calling 724-776-4806

The Foltz School, built circa 1880, is located along Route 8 in Brady Township, just south of the Old Stone House and the intersection with Route 173. The Moraine, McConnells Mill, and Jennings Commission finished a complete restoration in 2022. The school appears now as it would have in 1918.

The commission supports and/or manages several important historic sites in Butler County and is active in their preservation. More information can be found on their website and by email at 3mjcparks@gmail.com

The Hickory Corner School, built in 1891, is located at 103 Maltby Ave. in Slippery Rock, on the campus of Slippery Rock University. Originally located between Isle and Unionville roads, Miles McCandless purchased the building after it closed in 1963. In 1988, the family donated it to the Slippery Rock University Foundation, and it now serves as both a fully furnished museum as well as a classroom for early childhood education students. More information can be found by contacting SRU.

Steve Cicero, a former history teacher with the Butler Area School District, gives presentations on history as The History Hobo and can be reached at thehistoryhobo@gmail.com.