Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/01/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Chris, Thanks. I did not realize that they were not in use for such a long time. Cheers Jayanand On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 12:55 PM, Chris Crawford <chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com> wrote: > When these schoolhouses were used, all students living near the school > attended class together, regardless of the student's age/grade level. One > teacher had to teach all the grades, so students got relatively little > instruction each day, since the teacher had to give separate lessons to > each grade level of students in the class. > > In the early to mid 20th century, the states began to 'consolidate' > schools. They built a smaller number of much larger schools, each school > having many classrooms and many teachers. Each teacher taught only one > grade level, so the students were being taught lessons at their grade > level all day long. The consolidated schools also allowed the addition of > things like libraries, sports facilities, and kitchens where the school > could provide hot lunches to the students. This is still the model of > public education here. > > When the new schools opened, the old ones were sold off by the government, > and private owners did with the buildings as they pleased. Some were > preserved, like the one in Besancon. Some were demolished so the land > could be used for something else. Some were renovated to serve as homes, > others turned into garages or barns. Many were just left to rot. A few of > them around here house small businesses. I know of one that is an art > gallery, and another that is a hairdresser's shop. > > The transition from one room schoolhouses to the large modern schools was > made possible by the spread of the automobile, and especially by the > invention of the school bus to transport kids to schools located too far > from their homes for them to walk to. School consolidation happened in > cities much earlier than in rural areas because cities usually had public > transit (streetcars, etc.) that students could use to get to school, while > rural areas did not. Fort Wayne still has three public high schools that > were built in the 1920s that are still in use (all three have been > extensively renovated a few times over the years to keep them up to modern > standards). Another one from that period, Elmhurst High School, closed a > couple years ago as a budget cutting measure. That's the school I > graduated from in 1994, and it is where Peter and David Turnley went to > school in the 1970s. We had the same photo teacher! > > -- > Chris Crawford > Fine Art Photography > Fort Wayne, Indiana > 260-437-8990 > > http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio > > http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work! > > http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 > Become a fan on Facebook > > > > On 1/26/13 8:19 PM, "Jayanand Govindaraj" <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote: > >>They look absolutely deserted - except for the one photograph with cycles. >>Why is this? Is it that schooling has moved on to better buildings or more >>central locations, or the people living in those areas have moved on? >>Cheers >>Jayanand >> >>On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 4:40 AM, Chris Crawford < >>chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com> wrote: >> >>> Yeah, its just sitting there. I don't know who owns it anymore. Back >>>when >>> I photographed it, the schoolhouse was owned by an elderly woman whose >>> house was across the street (I stood in her front yard to photograph the >>> schoolhouse). She said her mother had been a student at the school! A >>>few >>> years later, the old woman died. I know it is relatively well preserved >>> inside, because a historic preservation group was allowed inside to >>> photograph it several years ago. >>> >>> Most of these schoolhouses are in very bad shape. Most are gutted inside >>> (they originally had walls separating the classroom from the entranceway >>> and coat room), many have been used as barns or corn storage buildings >>> after cutting away one of the outside walls. There are several that were >>> converted into homes, and are still inhabited and well maintained, but >>> that involved destroying the interior to build walls for the various >>>rooms >>> a house has, and adding plumbing, which none of these ever had. They >>>make >>> poor houses, in my opinion, because they are VERY small. I know of one >>> that is a two story schoolhouse! It is an art gallery now. >>> >>> Most of the schoolhouses were built to a more or less standard design. A >>> few have two classrooms. Most in northeast Indiana were built between >>>1880 >>> and 1910 and abandoned in the 1950s. There used to be one schoolhouse >>> every two miles on a grid pattern so that no student had to walk more >>>than >>> one mile to get to school....this was before automobiles were widely >>> available, and long before school buses came into use. >>> >>> I have photos of more schoolhouses here: >>> http://chriscrawfordphoto.com/chris-results.php?category=48 >>> >>> Most on that page are outside Fort Wayne, but one is in Kentucky and a >>> couple othersare in other parts of Indiana. I have a lot more photos to >>> add, once I scan them. >>> >>> -- >>> Chris Crawford >>> Fine Art Photography >>> Fort Wayne, Indiana >>> 260-437-8990 >>> >>> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio >>> >>> http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work! >>> >>> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 >>> Become a fan on Facebook >>> >>> >>> >>> On 1/26/13 3:14 PM, "Nathan Wajsman" <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote: >>> >>> >Beautiful. I have seen some of those in North Florida, but this one >>>looks >>> >much nicer. Is it just sitting there, deteriorating? >>> > >>> >Cheers, >>> >Nathan >>> > >>> >Nathan Wajsman >>> >Alicante, Spain >>> >http://www.frozenlight.eu >>> >http://www.greatpix.eu >>> >PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws >>> >Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ >>> > >>> >YNWA >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> >On Jan 22, 2013, at 2:00 PM, Chris Crawford wrote: >>> > >>> >> This is the second photograph that I made of the abandoned one-room >>> >>brick >>> >> schoolhouse at Besancon, Indiana. It was made in 1998 as part of my >>>art >>> >> school graduation portfolio. >>> >> >>> >> http://chriscrawfordphoto.com/chris-details.php?product=1590 >>> >> >>> >> -- >>> >> Chris Crawford >>> >> Fine Art Photography >>> >> Fort Wayne, Indiana >>> >> 260-437-8990 >>> >> >>> >> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio >>> >> >>> >> http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work! >>> >> >>> >> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 >>> >> Become a fan on Facebook >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >>> >> Leica Users Group. >>> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >> >>> > >>> > >>> >_______________________________________________ >>> >Leica Users Group. >>> >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Leica Users Group. >>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information