Archive: Around Town

Last Saturday (11/12) morning six Webelos Cub Scouts went to school. In fact they went to the one room school house in the Lansing Town Square to learn what it was like for kids their age to go to school in Lansing about 150 years ago.

"We're studying how we got to where we are with the schools on the hill, where we have 300 employees and we started with one," said Scout Leader Roger VandePoel. "We're lucky to have it. It could have been burned down or turned into a house."

The Field School today

Town Historian Louise Bement rang the school bell to begin the program. The scouts thought it was quite loud, but she explained it would have been rung outside and the sound had to carry so school children could hear it. Then she told the group what it would have been like when kids their age attended one room school houses in Lansing.

She showed them a Bible, explaining, "Every morning, if you were in Elementary School, young, before fourth grade, the teacher would read a verse. But if you were in fourth grade on up, the teacher chose the verse, but the child would read it. After you read the verse from the Bible you would salute the flag, and you also said the Lord's Prayer."

She explained that all the grades, one through eight, would all be in the same one-room schoolhouse. Because of this the curriculums blended together. "A lot of times kids could skip grades," she explained. She also explained about the desks in the school, and how children's desks had ink wells when the school was active. And how blackboards were painted on the walls.

Next she showed the scouts the wood shed, telling them that wood for heating had to be paid for before the teacher could be paid. She also explained that the boys bathroom and girls bathroom had been outside, behind the school.

In the 1800s there were 22 districts, each with its own school house. The Field School was built in the 1830s or 1840s, and was used well into the 20th Century.

Signing the Guest BookThe Field School House, named for teacher Evelyn Field, was donated to the Historical Association to be used as a museum, and it was moved from its original location on Peruville Road to the Town Square in the spring of 1992. Volunteers restored it with authentic period books, desks, period accoutrements and wood stove, and its first open house was held in June of 2002. Currently the schoolhouse is open to the public by appointment.

Webelos stands for "We'll Be Loyal Scouts." They are the oldest cub scouts, and the second year of Webelos is a kind of preparation for moving up to become Boy Scouts.

After the presentation Ms. Bement showed them the displays in the foyer. The boys were especially interested in two photographs showing the same area of Lansing, taken in 1940 and 2003. The photos show the area around the intersection of 34 and 34B, showing the area where the school is now located as well as the Rogue's Harbor Inn and nearby homes and businesses. They were fascinated with the differences, and delighted to identify places in the pictures that they know.

By morning's end the six scouts had a good idea of what their lives might be like if they had attended the Field School, and an appreciation of one of Lansing's precious resources.

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