Danbury North Road Schoolhouse Museum

written by Bonnie Fletcher

The Danbury Historical Society has restored and preserved a very special red one-room schoolhouse called the North Road School also know as School No. 4, located on 440 North Road, in Danbury, N.H.
This school was built in 1853 and closed its doors in 1943. I have been the project manager on this preservation initiative since its beginning and also have been the President of the Danbury Historical Society for the past 16 years. I am very proud of all my volunteer work that I have done for my community along with managing a group of dedicated volunteers that helped our organization restore and preserve the building to turn it into a museum.

I have inserted a few photographs of some of our displays and historical collections in the Museum that I gathered for my organization. The schoolhouse contains a cloakroom, a main schoolroom, an attached woodshed and an outhouse. Back in the 1850’s it’s students ranged from first grade to eighth and the students all sat in the same room, with the younger students sitting in desks in the front section and the older students in the back.  I will be sharing some history on school days and how life was back in the 1800’s on this site (on other pages), so please check back to read more about this topic in the future.

More about the preservation project… at the start of this initiative the schoolhouse was in desperate need of rehabilitation and it has been totally restored to preserve its architectural and historic integrity.  This classic red-one room school contains its original structure, houses historic artifacts such as historic maps, old books, historic photographs, postcards and school furniture and is located on a beautiful country road.

A section of the wall shows the original blackboard which still has a 4-line
patriotic poem inscribed in chalk:
Three proud floating emblems of glory,
Our guide for the coming time, The red, white and blue and their beauty, Love gives them a means of sublime.

We restored the original cast iron woodstove in the school and we have collected all types of farming tools and real unique items.   It has been a wonderful part of my life heading up this effort and very rewarding to be involved in this community project.

Volunteering… If you ever think you might want to volunteer for something, I would definitely recommend putting some time aside to volunteer your time on a preservation effort or a worthy community project.   We all can make a difference in our community and our life.  You will meet new people and it is a great feeling setting a goal and reaching it.  You never know what you can accomplish until you try.

If you have ever volunteered for an organization I would love to hear what you have volunteered for and any stories you may want to share.   Or if you have any questions or comments on this site, please feel free to post them.  I will be adding more content in the weeks to come.  Check out my other pages – the page links are located on the right side column.  Thank you for visiting my blog!
Kindest regards,
Bonnie Fletcher

5 thoughts on “Danbury North Road Schoolhouse Museum

  1. Great blog! And a small world…

    My grandmother passed away a few years ago at the age of 99. She grew up on a farm by the school and because they were so close, the family ‘dinner bell’ was also used for the school bell. My grandmother ended up donating the bell to the school before she died.

    I still have so many cool artifacts that my gram gave me over the years but it’s nice to this one in such a fitting place.

    Great work, your hard work is appreciated!

  2. Yes, it is a small world. Your grandmother was a very special person. I have a few photos of her at some of our Historical Society activities from a few years ago. I will post them in the next few weeks to share them with you. The large bell she donated was really nice and was engraved with a date from the 1800’s and a volunteer restored it by sandblasting it. It came out looking really good and just as it did back in the 1800’s. Your grandmother was wonderful and I am glad you wrote about her, since it brings back nice memories of meeting her and the stories that she shared with me. Thank you and I hope you can come and visit the North Road Schoolhouse Museum sometime.

  3. Thank you so much, your kind words really hit a note with me. I’d love to come see the schoolhouse sometime! I just had to share this story (and your response) with my mom. I know it made her happy too!

  4. Bonnie, this is impressive! I love your appreciation for historical places. As an avid genealogy nut, I appreciate the small artifacts which represent our not so distant ancestors. There is just something so magical about being in the same place, among the same things, of the people who paved the way for us. While I have never been to Danbury, I still appreciate your efforts to capture a moment in time so that the rest of us may learn from it.

    • Thank you Joy for your kind words.
      I am still working on displays with my group at the Museum and it has been fun to see different types of historical items that are donated. Last year we got a local arrowhead, which was really neat. I am trying to get more historical farming tools for this year to improve the woodshed area wall. It is great that you like genealogy and historical stuff too. It is a fun hobby.

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