Abandoned Schoolhouse in NJ

Birmingham School, Birmingham New Jersey

Date added: September 19, 2023 Categories:

The Birmingham School is typical of those built in small towns in the region during the first decade after the Civil War, largely due to governmental reforms in public education taking place at that time. The planning and the architecture of the Birmingham School are significant because this one-room schoolhouse, situated just north of the Rancocas Creek, represented the best model of its time, generated by educators and architects to better educate the farming community it served. As such, the building became both an important visual element in the community and an essential social institution.

Located in Burlington County, Birmingham started out as a manufacturing village in the late eighteenth century. The town grew slowly but steadily, and in the nineteenth century became an important transfer center. This was, in large part, facilitated by the growth of the railroad which transported the area's most important resource, marl, throughout the region. The importance of the town increased as express trains to seaside resorts originated out of the Birmingham train station. Taking advantage of this, the Birmingham Inn, a plush resort hotel, was established in the 1870s catering to the rich from Philadelphia and New York. Birmingham, however, remained a primarily agricultural community, and the location of the Birmingham School was intended to be within walking distance for children living on the nearby farms.

Birmingham had two schools during the nineteenth century. The first was the Brandywine School, located just south of the North Pemberton Road. Birmingham School was the second, built in 1879 on land deeded to the School District by Eayre O. Bartlett, a farmer, merchant, miller and foundry owner in Birmingham, and Samuel R. Gaskill, a proprietor of Marl beds. The schoolhouse was completed and occupied in May 1879.

One-room schoolhouses of this type were typical of the schools being built in New Jersey during the mid- to late-nineteenth century. Their existence was due in large part to education reforms occurring in New Jersey between 1864 and 1874. In 1864, State government agencies noted a problem in rural districts with teacher supervision. By 1865, the New Jersey State Supervisor of Schools issued prototype designs for several types of schools. Of the types included was a one-room school that accommodated 70 students and measured 25' x 40', a proportion similar to that of the Birmingham School. In 1866, the New Jersey State Board of Education was established and public taxes were mandated specifically for public school use. By 1867, the State Board of Education had become a centralized body overseeing application of education legislation to schools. In 1871 all public schools were made free of cost, when the State School Fund was formed specifically for the building of public schools in rural areas. This did much to advance education throughout the state and spurred the building of schools.

The Birmingham School was described in an article in The Mount Holly Herald, on May 24, 1879, which greatly praised the new schoolhouse, saying it was "truly a model one" which reflected great credit on all those involved in its design and construction. It is possible that this prototypical one-room schoolhouse design could have been influenced by early models, especially those built by Quakers. The Quakers, strong advocates of education, established schools in nearby Burlington as early as 1792. A simple building measuring 26' x 40', this Original Burlington School was based upon the design of a meeting house.

An influential source of school design was an 1842 book entitled School House Architecture by Henry Barnard. Barnard, an educator, was an advocate for student comfort as well as discipline in school design. These ideas included proper ventilation and furniture, a separate chair for each student, pupils desks placed in rows, free passage between aisles and separate entrances for boys and girls. The ideal setting for a school was in a pastoral location such as a wooded glen away from distractions. It is not unusual that the design of the Birmingham School conforms to these designs. The State School Superintendent saw that Barnard's designs were implemented in school buildings in New Jersey. Similarly, the Birmingham School also served a dual role as a schoolhouse (from 1879 to 1922) and as a religious hall (during those years and until the late 1930s).

By the 1880s, the Birmingham School was being fully utilized. The building was valued at $1,500 and the amount spent on supplies was $732.11. While students in the district numbered 93, 78 were registered and average attendance was Only 42. Students ranged in age from 5 to 20 years of age. The first teacher was George M. Wells who earned $43.90 per month. The school term lasted ten months as opposed to the usual nine to accommodate the farmer's schedule. During harvest season, attendance dropped close to zero.

Female teachers were required to be unmarried or widows. That explained the quick succession of teachers in the early 1900s. In addition to teaching, the teachers were required to clean the school, stoke the wood stove, settle quarrels, and serve as practical nurses.

According to first-hand accounts dating to the early twentieth century, the typical arrangement of the interior of the schoolhouse consisted of two rows of approximately six desks each on either side of the room. A canvas sheet divided the room in half. Kindergarten through fifth grade occupied the south side of the room, while grades six through eight sat on the north side. The desks were of the Victor Folding and Lock type. Three windows on either wall provided ample light and air to the room. The room was heated by a "pot belly" stove placed in the center of the room with an exhaust vent leading to a chimney. Since this space was also utilized as a worship space, an organ was located at the rear of the classroom.

There are several factors that led to the Birmingham School's closing in 1922. Attitudes about education had changed by the early twentieth century. Increased mechanization and modernization signaled that change. What was considered a model design in the 1870s, was called "deplorable conditions" for learning by the State Board of Education in 1922. In that year, Burlington County ranked second of all counties in the United States in the "efficient solving of the rural school problem," meaning that the one-room "little old red schoolhouses" were replaced with modern structures. In fact, by 1922, of the 67 nineteenth-century schoolhouses in Burlington County only five remained open. This attitude, coupled with the ability to easily transport children from rural area to modern "consolidated schools" by automotive buses, also meant the demise of most of one-room schoolhouses like the Birmingham School. Fortunately, although the building no longer functioned as a school, the space was used for religious meetings into the 1930s.

The Birmingham School stands today, deteriorated but relatively intact, representing an important chapter in the history of public education in this community and many like it throughout the state. The one-room schoolhouse played an essential role in the development of school design and education in the area. To the late nineteenth and early twentieth century community of Birmingham, this one-room school was an important visual and social element that symbolized continuity between one generation to the next.

Building Description

The Birmingham School is a wood-frame one-room schoolhouse located on Birmingham Road in the rural town of Birmingham, New Jersey. The small structure dates to 1879 and was built to be within walking distance of people living in the village. The building was utilized as a schoolhouse until 1922 when, corresponding with the advent of the automobile, children in the outlying rural districts were transported by school bus to consolidated schools. During its years as a schoolhouse and for several years thereafter, it functioned as a Sunday School and a place for worship. The building has had little or no use for the past 65 years, used only for storage by the present owners, Sybron Chemicals Inc. When a portion of the deteriorating roof collapsed in the 1980s, the company removed the stored materials and replaced the roof. The structure is presently vacant.

The schoolhouse is situated to the north side of the Rancocas Creek amidst a grove of evergreen, beech, elm and oak trees. Birmingham Road, the main street of the rural community, is located to the east. The Birmingham School represented the model for a schoolhouse in the mid-nineteenth century and reflected the spirit of enterprise in the small rural community.

The Birmingham School is rectangular in plan, approximately 24 x 40 feet with a 12-foot ceiling height. It was built with a cellar measuring 12 x 24 feet, arranged for the storage of coal and wood. The foundation is of uncoursed stone topped by several courses of running bond brick, the brick being visible from the exterior. The wood frame building sitting atop the masonry is sheathed horizontal wood clapboard siding with vertical corner posts. Window and door surrounds are simple milled boards with little decoration. The wood-dowelled window shutters are louvered. The wood-shingled roof rises above a projecting box cornice and return with an applied cyma recta molding.

The front gable end facade faces east and is symmetrically arranged. A three-panel wood door, centrally placed with some original hardware, is raised up off the ground some two feet. Originally a wood, bracketed portico was located above the entry. Shown in historic photographs, its outline is evident on this clapboard facade. The photographs further indicate that the portico had a wood shingle roof and a wood pediment with a decoratively carved design. The steps leading up to the door are presently missing, as is a substantial brick pavement, which according to early documents led from a fence enclosing the schoolyard up to the stoop. Above the door, under the gable, is a bullseye opening which historically held a four-light window.

The south elevation is three bays in length. The masonry base had a rectangular coal chute opening, now infilled. This elevation has three six-over-six sash windows with wood louvered shutters containing original hardware and shutter dogs. To the west side of this elevation, late nineteenth and early twentieth-century graffiti, in the form of initials carved by school children, occur with frequency. The density of carving increases on the rear south elevation. At the masonry base, a rectangular opening is located near the center. The north elevation is identical to the south; however, the condition of the woodwork is more deteriorated and only one set of shutters survive. A rectangular opening in the masonry base is located to the east side of this elevation. The new wood shingle roof is experiencing discoloration. Historic photographs show a brick chimney with a terra cotta chimney cap originally projected through the roof ridge near the east end.

The interior of the school is rectangular in plan with an entry vestibule measuring 4 1/2' x 8' leading into the main classroom space. Based upon the existence of hinges, the vestibule appeared to have been separated from the 25' x 35' classroom space by a pair of doors. The vestibule is flanked by a wardrobe and bookcase to the north, and a closet for the water cooler basin and stairs to the cellar on the south. Interior finishes include wood floors, yellow pine painted brown for the wainscotting and chair rail, and plaster for the walls. Above the chair rail, 170 square feet of blackboard surface were created by adding carbon black or other coloring agents to the final plaster coat. These surfaces, as well as the entire interior, exhibit moisture deterioration. Water damage has caused structural instability, especially at the southeast corner of the room where the floor framing has collapsed. This, in turn, is affecting an interior closet wall, which, left unsupported, is in danger of collapse. Several windows are boarded up; however, some contain original single-hung six-over-six wood sash with sash weights and simply appointed wood frames. The original orientation of the room faced west where the teacher's area is raised up one step on a wooden platform. A long blackboard lines the west interior wall, and at the northwest corner, is a built-in cabinet. The cabinet in the southwest corner is no longer intact. According to historical accounts, the original ceiling was wood and a pot belly stove occupied the center of the room. The stove was vented by ducts leading to the interior wall separating the vestibule from the classroom. Evidence of this stack is noted in the wall; however, a newer masonry chimney stack is located at the northeast corner of the vestibule. Other interesting interior features include the raised panel wood doors used along the east interior wall. Some doors contain original decorative cast metal hardware. The wardrobe closets show evidence of metal hooks; however, they have been removed.