West Ward School

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The West Ward School was one of four "little red schoolhouses" built by the town of Wakefield, Massachusetts in the 1840s.

The West Ward School located on Prospect Street in Wakefield, Massachusetts was founded in 1847 and is thought to be the oldest two-room schoolhouse in Massachusetts that was in continuous use during its 147 years of operation. The school was originally built to account for the rise in population in what was then called South Reading. After the train industry began to boom and tracks starting running through agricultural towns and not just cities, people began moving their families to the country.

As the population grew each year, more schools were needed, and in 1779 the town decided to divide into four geographical school wards or districts. Each one had its own school building, which the school committee later decided was inadequate and too small and so all four houses were sold, for a total of $330. Gradually new ones were built in the Greek Revival style of architecture. This type of architecture became popular at the time because town buildings wanted to be established as democratic institutions, correlating closely with the classical democracy of Greece. The cost for all four school houses to be built was $7940.22 or $1985.05 per house.

The West District School was built as a two story structure, but in 1847 only one floor was finished. In 1852 the second floor was finished, but in the five years between a single instructor was teaching 54 children in one room. When the second floor was completed, two departments were formed, a Senior and a Primary, each having one instructor. In 1854, Primary teachers received an annual salary of $210 and Senior teachers $252 per year. Their salaries increased slightly over the years and in 1910 a West District Teacher earned $550 per year.

The building received running water in 1891and until then students used outhouses located behind the school. The school rooms were heated by large stoves and the stove pipes that ran along the ceiling of each room. In 1863, the building came very close to burning down completely when a fire broke out destroying most desks, supplies, and books.

The school has made it through some taxing times in our nation’s history. In the 1930’s, Depression, the school came close to being closed down. The Parent Teacher Association was very optimistic and helpful during this time, though, hosting bridge and whist parties to raise money and donating playground equipment to the school yard. During World War II, parents, teachers and children helped the war effort by selling war stamps, raffling off war bonds, and making most children’s programs during school patriotic in nature. They recited poems such as “I Am an American”, sang songs such as the “Star Spangled Banner” and one fourth grade class even knit squares that were made into blankets which were donated to the Junior Red Cross.

The school received its “Little Red Schoolhouse” image in 1954 when it was painted red under the direction of Superintendent John B. Hendershot. There were other renovations done to the schoolhouse in the following years including major restoration work in 1966 and new furnaces in 1985. There was controversy over adding a sprinkler system to the second floor in 1985. Since fire regulations demanded the sprinklers and parents were concerned that classes were too overcrowded, a new system and an additional kindergarten class were added. The school’s population also changed dramatically over the years, first housing grades 1-8 in 1847, then grades 1-4 until 1948. In 1977 the school only served kindergarten and first grade, and in September of 1984 the school reached its final status of educating kindergarten students only.

The Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) has been extremely active in the school since the beginning of the century. They have promoted numerous fundraisers and events that have been a source of revenue for the school. In addition they have been able to supply tools for the students ranging from hexagraphs and a stereopticon screen in 1935, to radios and record players in the 1940’s and 50’s, to contemporary equipment such as video-camcorders and computers in more recent years.

The West Ward School was eventually forced to close when the roof collapsed and was turned over from the School Department to the Board of Selectmen. In 1998 the West Ward School Association was awarded permission to restore the building to its original use as a 19th century schoolhouse. The organization aims to make the building a “living history schoolhouse,” giving children the opportunity to experience a classroom from the mid to late 19th century.

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