Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/01/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I think they got caught by the fast pace of technological change back then. They were built to replace earlier wooden buildings, made of brick to last, but were obsoleted very quickly in the cities and towns and within 30 yrs in rural areas when it became possible for students to attend bigger schools in centralized locations. There is one in a state nature park about 20 miles from Ft. Wayne that is very well preserved, because it serves as a museum in the park. The building was built in 1915 to replace an earlier wooden building that a student burned down after the teacher paddled him! It was closed in the 1930s when the county's schools were consolidated, so it was not used long at all. The owners of the land kept it well maintained until the state bought it, and a big chunk of land around it, in the 1960s when the state park was established. -- 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 1/27/13 10:42 PM, "Jayanand Govindaraj" <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote: >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 > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information