More on the History of the Little Yellow Schoolhouse on Split Rock Road Built in the 1850s

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Think of the faithful work of those pioneer teachers!

Teaching all subjects, primary, grammar and high

school; spending hours after school to help a backward,

or push a promising pupil; working eleven months each year,

knowing that the greatest effort made would be taken as a

matter of course, and waiting patiently for three months

before receiving one month's salary. Think of their work,

and give thanks that times have changed.'

-- Kate C. Mulligan, writing in 1913 of The Little Yellow

Schoolhouse that Once Stood on Split Rock Road.

It was known as the "Little Yellow Schoolhouse."  It stood on Split Rock Road, often referred to as "Pelham Lane" during the nineteenth century.  It originally was built in one spot along Pelham Lane but, in the 1860s, was moved to another lot along the roadway.

Known officially as the "Prospect Hill Schoolhouse," it was a tiny one-room schoolhouse.  Its remnants still stand on today's Split Rock Road.  The structure has been incorporated into the residence that stands at 982 Split Rock Road. 

Prospect Hill Schoolhouse in an Undated Photograph.

Image Courtesy of the Office of the Historian of the Town of Pelham.

982 Split Rock Road Which Incorporates the Old

Prospect Hill Schoolhouse. Photograph by the Author, 2004.

According to a publication issued in 1976:  

"In 1840, John Hunter, who owned the land just to the southeast of Prospect Hill, deeded a small corner of his land on the border to the town of Pelham for the purpose of building a school. In 1866, for some reason, the town purchased part of Lot 51 from Terrance Malloy and moved the school to that site, which is now the front part of the main center section of 982 Split Rock Road. It has been said that the reason for the removal of the school was that Hunter wished to enlarge his racetrack. However, research has shown that his track was further south, nearer Throg's Neck. Also, the configuration of the land at that spot would not have lent itself to the requirements of a racetrack." 

Source:  The Junior League of Pelham, Inc., A Glance at the Past: Pelham's Growth From 1775-1975 p. 14 (The Junior League of Pelham, Inc. Sept. 1976) (Pamphlet associated with accompanying map; 32 pp. including Map Bibliography, Manuscript Bibliography and illustrations by Hedy Klein).

In 1913, a former student at the Little Yellow Schoolhouse named Kate C. Mulligan authored a brief article containing her reminiscences about the little school.  She provided a valuable description of the interior of the school, descriptions of what an ordinary school day was like, and a list of some of the earliest teachers at the school.  

The school room was a single, long, and narrow room with desks and benches that were not sized for the students.  They were "one size fits all" with seats too high for the younger students whose legs dangled above the floor and seats too small for the older students, some of whom could be nearly 21 years old.  There was, as one would expect, a large chalkboard at the front of the room.

In the center of the room was a "soapstone stove."  A soapstone stove was a wood and coal-burning stove with a firebox made of soapstone, a metamorphic rock capable of withstanding intense heat much better -- and, therefore, able to last much longer -- than cast iron, steel or refractory bricks used in other types of stoves.  

Example of a 19th Century Soapstone Stove Likely

Somewhat Like the One that Once Heated the Little

Yellow Schoolhouse on Split Rock Road.  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

According to Kate Mulligan's reminiscences, the soapstone stove was known for "roasting the pupils sitting near it and letting the unfortunates near the door freeze" during cold weather.  During warm weather, the windows of the school would be opened for the breezes, although the windows had to be propped open with books or sticks to remain open.  

Clearly during the earliest years of the school the Hunter and Delancey families were important benefactors of the little school.  The Hunter family donated land for the school.  The Delancey family donated an impressive collection of books to the school for use by the students.  Indeed, multiple sources mention the tiny school's book collection with obvious pride.  Kate Mulligan recalled as follows:

"In front of the room to the right of the teacher's desk was a tall bookcase with long glass doors, which held such treasures as Macauley's essays, Days of Ancient Rome and Life of Lord Clive, Cyrus the Great, Explorations of the Nile, Grecian and Roman Mythology, Green's History of Texas and many others, which were read from cover to cover by the boys and girls before they were twelve years old.  These books were the gift of Colonel Delancey, who lived in the large stone house now known as Hunter Island Inn, and the pupils of the school owed many of their pleasures to his friendship for them."

Kate Mulligan had somewhat darker memories of the books as well.  The earliest teacher at the school that she could recall was Mr. Charles H. Russell.  She recalled him as a rather coarse, though pleasant, taskmaster with a penchant for throwing books at pupils who misbehaved or made mistakes in their schoolwork.  According to Ms. Mulligan, when Russell threw such a book at a student, he called it "shying" and would force the student to pick up and return the book to him so he could throw it again if necessary.  She remembered one time when he threw a book at her.  She wrote:

"We were struggling with complex fractions one day and it was my turn at the board.  I got to inverting the terms of the divisor and stuck fast.  Bang! came the book at my head.  This performance was repeated three times to 'make me think.'  I 'thought,' and have been a firm believer in the 'rights' of children ever since."

Charles H. Russell was replaced by Mrs. C. H. Meiggs whom the students (and their parents) clearly loved.  As Kate Mulligan put it:  

"[W]e were fortunate in having for a term of years Mrs. C. H. Meiggs, a gentle and cultured woman who won the love of parents and pupils, and whose gentle kindness and wonderful knowledge of and sympathy with children is gratefully remembered to this day.  She was the possessor of a fine library to which all her pupils were welcome and she helped form our tastes by reading aloud every afternoon.  It was marvelous to see those big boys, some twenty-one years old, work so hard for the privilege of enjoying the reading hour, for the rule was 'no work, no book.'  Not one was hardy enough to try to evade school rules, or tell an untruth to cover carelessness or wrongdoing.  It was a real loss to the community when she retired to take a needed rest."

After the retirement of Mrs. Meiggs, she was succeeded by Miss Emma Wilson.  Emma Wilson was "a bright young girl" who was trained at New York State Normal School, established by the New York State Legislature in 1844.

Miss Wilson was succeeded by Isaac C. Hill who became a beloved and significant figure in the history of Pelham education.  I have written extensively about Isaac C. Hill and his involvement with Pelham schools for nearly a half century in the latter part of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century.  See:

Tue., Sep. 27, 2005:  Isaac C. Hill's Reminiscences of Early Public Schools in Pelham. 

Tue., Mar. 28, 2006:  More Reminiscences of Isaac C. Hill of Early Public Schools in Pelham. 

Mon., Aug. 11, 2014:  Excerpts of January 8, 1889 Remarks Dedicating a New School Building in Pelhamville. 

Mon., Jan. 12, 2015:  Isaac C. Hill, Involved with Pelham Education for Forty-Five Years, Retired in 1922.

Mon., Mar. 05, 2018:  An Historic Fiftieth Anniversary in Pelham During 1922.

Writing of Professor Hill (as he was known), Kate Mulligan said:

"Mr. Hill began to make himself felt immediately.  He organized games at recess and cheered his pupils on to victory, subduing the rough play of the bigger boys and giving all a chance to enjoy playtime as well as study period.  He added drawing and Latin to the algebra and geometry taught by former teachers, and his class had the benefit of a good high school education, although 'readin,' writin' and 'rithmetic' were the only subjects called for by the Board.  He was acknowledged to be the best teacher of English and mathematics we had ever had, and we were selfish enough to be sorry when he was transferred to 'Pelhamville' with an increased salary and the privilege of an assistant teacher.  Mr. John M. Shinn was the next and last teacher in that school."

Thankfully we have the reminiscences of Kate C. Mulligan to help us understand more about The Little Yellow Schoolhouse that once served Pelham schoolchildren on Split Rock Road!

*          *          *          *          *

"Old Pelham Schools
-----

Pelham schools in the early seventies were not the comfortable, sanitary, well-heated, well-lighted buildings of to-day.  The Pelham boys who went to the little yellow schoolhouse, now the home of Henry O'Neill, on Split Rock Road, or Pelham Lane, as it was called in those days, sat on a form with his little legs dangling between the seat and floor.  Adjusting seat or desk to size of the pupil was never thought of.  If he slid off because he could not sit still, he went up and took his feruling with what grace he could.  The school room was long and narrow with rows of forms on either side and a large soapstone stove in the centre, roasting the pupils sitting near it and letting the unfortunates near the door freeze.  The windows were raised by pulling up the sash and putting a stick or book underneath.  It was the typical rural school with one exception.  In front of the room to the right of the teacher's desk was a tall bookcase with long glass doors, which held such treasures as Macauley's essays, Days of Ancient Rome and Life of Lord Clive, Cyrus the Great, Explorations of the Nile, Grecian and Roman Mythology, Green's History of Texas and many others, which were read from cover to cover by the boys and girls before they were twelve years old.  These books were the gift of Colonel Delancey, who lived in the large stone house now known as Hunter Island Inn, and the pupils of the school owed many of their pleasures to his friendship for them.

The first teacher I remember was Mr. Charles H. Russell, a tall, thin, dark man who remained with us entirely too long for my comfort and whose departure I hailed with joy.  One of his pastimes was taking off his shoes and depositing his stockinged feet on the desk of the pupil nearest his chair; another was 'shying' books at his pupils and requesting them to pick them up and return them to him for 'another shy,' as he said.  He was very pleasant about it and we never dreamed of disobeying.  We were struggling with complex fractions one day and it was my turn at the board.  I got to inverting the terms of the divisor and stuck fast.  Bang! came the book at my head.  This performance was repeated three times to 'make me think.'  I 'thought,' and have been a firm believer in the 'rights' of children ever since.

After this gentleman's (?) departure, we were fortunate in having for a term of years Mrs. C. H. Meiggs, a gentle and cultured woman who won the love of parents and pupils, and whose gentle kindness and wonderful knowledge of and sympathy with children is gratefully remembered to this day.  She was the possessor of a fine library to which all her pupils were welcome and she helped form our tastes by reading aloud every afternoon.  It was marvelous to see those big boys, some twenty-one years old, work so hard for the privilege of enjoying the reading hour, for the rule was 'no work, no book.'  Not one was hardy enough to try to evade school rules, or tell an untruth to cover carelessness or wrongdoing.  It was a real loss to the community when she retired to take a needed rest.

She was succeeded by Miss Emma Wilson, a bright young girl from the State Normal School, and after her came our own Prof. I. C. Hill.  Mr. Hill began to make himself felt immediately.  He organized games at recess and cheered his pupils on to victory, subduing the rough play of the bigger boys and giving all a chance to enjoy playtime as well as study period.  He added drawing and Latin to the algebra and geometry taught by former teachers, and his class had the benefit of a good high school education, although 'readin,' writin' and 'rithmetic' were the only subjects called for by the Board.  He was acknowledged to be the best teacher of English and mathematics we had ever had, and we were selfish enough to be sorry when he was transferred to 'Pelhamville' with an increased salary and the privilege of an assistant teacher.  Mr. John M. Shinn was the next and last teacher in that school.

Messrs. DeMoud, Brower and Van Auken, our present county attorney, and the Misses Charlotte Cowles, Furman and Lampson were the successive principals of the little brick school on Jackson avenue before the present school was opened.  

Think of the faithful work of those pioneer teachers!  Teaching all subjects, primary, grammar and high school; spending hours after school to help a backward, or push a promising pupil; working eleven months each year, knowing that the greatest effort made would be taken as a matter of course, and waiting patiently for three months before receiving one month's salary.  Think of their work, and give thanks that times have changed.'

KATE C. MULLIGAN."

Source:  Old Pelham Schools, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 20, 1913, p. 6, cols. 2-3.

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