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The Old Red Brick School House which stood on the southwest comer of Oak and Main Streets (now Eighth Street and Seventh Avenue, Beaver Falls, PA) was torn down and was replaced by a new up-to-date building in 1928.
Yet the construction of this building which preceded that of the Harmony Street School (now Eleventh Street School) by at least forty years gave as much, if not more, satisfaction at the time to the forebears of many of our residents than that now enjoyed by the pupils of the Eleventh Street School.
It was erected at the edge of the town at the fringe of the woods and on a. hilltop; and there it stood in its latter years isolated and despised; used as a warehouse for iron pipe; a place for billboard advertising.
But this was not always so.
The wonderful vista it once overlooked is no longer the same. The Walnut Run Valley (Black Walnut Bottoms) was not then a sewer. The lower. town was still green in the summertime from the many uncut forest trees and the sycamores lining the water courses, and the distant Big Beaver river was not hidden by the smoke stacks of the factories, nor its banks scarred by the railroad tracks.
But, it too had outlived its usefulness, and the intents and purposes of its erectors, supplanted in the years following by other uses. It was the oldest structure built for public or quasi-public convenience in Beaver Falls, possibly in the upper valley.
Its record of long service is that of being one of the most useful buildings of its time in the community.
There has been more or less comment upon the streets of Beaver Falls as to the age of the old red brick school building, which stood at the southwest comer of Seventh Avenue and Eighth Street for nearly ninety-one years, was torn down in 1928, and a new building was constructed on its site by a man named Poerlio, and it was stated in the columns of the News-Tribune a few years ago that the time of its erection was unknown even to the oldest residents, though some of them had been pupils within its venerable walls.
This was not quite correct, for though it is impossible to give the day and month of its being opened to public use, yet the time of its construction can be fixed within a year.
It was probably the oldest public or quasi-public building in Beaver County and should have been preserved not only for its historical associations with the development of Old Brighton into the present prosperous city, but also as the alma- mater of the forebears of so many of the older families, as well as the original home of nearly every one of the older church congregations in Beaver Falls, except the Catholic, yet Sisters from that Faith later conducted a parochial school therein.
The Quakers would seem to have had meetings. The Mormans did at least once. Likewise, the Salvation Army had its beginning in the 1880's, within its walls. Moreover, it was the original and for many years the only place for any kinds of a public assemblage in the upper valley.
The public or free school law of Pennsylvania was signed by Governor Wolf on April 1, 1834. As this did not provide for the selection of school directors until the November election of the same year.
It is certain that no action was taken by the residents of Brighton (Beaver Falls) towards erecting a school building before 1835; but as this law met with considerable opposition throughout the State, including Beaver County, until amended by the legislature the following year as to some of its objectionable features, it is improbable that anything was done in this regard before 1836.
It cannot be disputed, however, that this brick school building was built prior to the early spring of 1837, probably for the term of school beginning in the fall of the preceding year, - - as the following Act of Assembly, approved by Governor Ritner on April 16, 1838 is conclusive as to the point and being self explanatory is quoted in part:
Laws of 1838, Page 612, Section 25 - - The village of Brighton (Beaver Falls) and the following described country, to wit: - Beginning at the Big Beaver Creek at the line dividing Brighton and Chippewa Townships, thence down the Beaver to the line dividing Fallston from Brighton Township, thence westwardly along said line to Brady's Run, thence up said fork thereof to Chippewa Township line, thence along the said line to the place of beginning, be, and the same is erected into a separate election district and the qualified electors thereof shall hold their elections at the school house in the village of Brighton (Beaver Falls).
Section 26 - - The territory of country in the section aforesaid described be, and the same is hereby erected into a separate school district and such separate district shall have power to elect all the officers to carry on the common system the same as though said territory was a separate township.
This would therefore reasonably establish the time of the building of the old red school house as between the spring of 1836 and the fall of 1837. A fair deduction is that it was erected in 1837, for the interests of the manufacturing community as the Brighton district were more or less at variance with this sparsely settled remainder of Borough Township, of which is constituted a part, and it is probable that as soon as the residents had a suitable structure completed, they directed one of their representatives at Harrisburg to petition the legislature for a separate school district and local polling place; with the result of the law above quoted.
As confirmation of the above, in my conversation with the late Mr. T. Frank Covert, of New Brighton, gave me the following statements giving the proof about when this building was constructed. Mrs. Thomas Ross, better known as Granny, whose declining years were spent in a house near Walnut Run at Fourth Street, where there was a celebrated Spring know to all boys as the "Granny Ross Spring" and whose husband was an inn keeper, known as Black Horse Inn, which was located near the present site of the present station known as Brighton-Beaver Falls of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Company, resided in Old Brighton from the earliest times, it being disclosed by the records that Thomas Ross was granted an innkeeper's license at the old log tavern in 1804. Mrs. Ross had a remarkable memory for dates, and living to a good old age witnessed many changes as the town developed from a wilderness dotted with a few log houses to a community of about 300. Her conversations in her later years were much given to reminiscence and during several of the many talks she had with Mr. James McNertnew, of New Brighton; but a former near neighbor of the old lady, she stated very positively more than once that the little old brick school house was built in the year of 1837.
And as still supplemental, Sherman Day in his "Historical Collections", written about 1840, mentions Brighton as a delightful and promising village containing a cotton factory, flour mill and a store owned by James Patterson, a paper mill operated by Archibald Robertson and "a very neat and commodious school house and meeting place" (which) accommodates a population of about 300.
The use of the words "meeting house" would apparently give some color to what the late Mrs. John R. (Deborah) Hoopes, (also quite frequently called Granny) of lower Seventh Avenue, always claimed, to wit, that the little old brick school house was first used by the Quakers as a meeting house. Mrs. Hoopes was a very orthodox Quaker herself, and though her husband's people were very early residents and Quakers, she herself did not come to the valley until during the 1850's, and could hardly be regarded as reliable authority.
Reconciling the words of historian Day, and the statements of Mrs. Hoopes as far as possible, however, with all other data, it is not improbable that the Quakers may have held a meeting or meetings in the building, but that it was erected as a Quaker meeting house is contradicted by a reasonable deduction from all other facts available concerning it.
The statement that a Mormon meeting was held there in the 1840's was made by Granny Ross who claimed it was addressed by Brigham Young. It is well known that a number of meetings of that faith were held in the valley, the earliest assemblages and baptisms being at Sharon (West Bridgewater); but a letter from the historian of the Latter Saints of recent date, while giving a partial list of the missionaries who labored., locally, does not mention the many wived gentleman. Several families of the valley were converted at that time at the meeting place at the mouth of Brady's Run by Elder Snow, and went to Nauvoo and later to Salt Lake City, where they remained.
In 1837 Elder Grant, father of the present head of the Morman Church, labored at "Beaver City" which was the name given to the entire valley (including Rochester, West Bridgewater, Beaver, Fallston, New Brighton, Beaver Falls, and other villages on the Big Beaver River), by Marcus T. C. Gould, the promoter. Other missionaries were here later and it is probable that Mrs. Ross was correct in her statement.
In 1841 there was a petition which was signed by the residents of Brighton (Beaver Falls) for a separate school district and local polling place; this petition was signed on April 14, 1841 and permission granted by the State on October 15, 1841.
The first school board of the district of which any record can be found is that of 1841, and consisted of Robert Calhoon, John Baker, Thomas D. Wells, James Patterson, Archibald Robertson and James M. Gregg. The early records of the Pennsylvania schools are said to have been largely destroyed when the capitol at Harrisburg was burned on February 2,1897.
1848, Dr. Zadoc Bliss was a teacher and became a studeni at Sterling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio, where he graduated in 1851 and practiced in Southside of Beaver County until his death in 1895.
1850, Mr. Milton Anderson, one of the teachers,
used a quill pen though the steel pens had come into use and he
was also pretty free with the rattan, which was necessary at that
time. It was the custom for the teacher to act as an agent for
the
publisher and sell the books to the scholars. One day, an agent
called to collect
and Milton Anderson, the teacher, disputed about the bill. The
argument grew
loud and the scholars were affrighted. Finally the agent grabbed
Milton Anderson's cane, which Anderson had raised, he being very
lame and helpless without it. The agent ran out the door and down
the street. Anderson yelled, "Help me, boys' " They
were glad of the chance, so they grabbed the contents of a scuttle
full of coal by the stove and bombarded the agent with all sizes
of lumps until he cast away the cane and retracted ingloriously
much to the delight of the boys. The records of Greersburg (now
Darlington) Academy, shows that Milton Anderson was a student
there in the year 1842. The academy is still standing; it is now
being used as a railroad depot of the Pittsburgh, Lisbon and Western
Railroad. This building was called the "old stone pile"
and was constructed in 1806.
1855, the teacher was - - - - - Cope, and some of the pupils were Williams Robertson, James P. Robertson, Joseph W. Knott, Joseph Hoopes, Christopher Large, Daniel Large, James (Cedar) Ross, and Thomas Hennon.
The water for the school was carried from a well in the yard of John Hoopes, and it was quite a desirable privilege to go for water on account of the distance and absence from lessons. The well is now in the cellar of the building owned by Christain Reich Sons, 519 Seventh Avenue.
1856, the teacher was ----- Harkell.
1857, David Magaw, then a teacher, came to school one morning. with a black eye. The scholars did not ask him where he got it and no explanation was necessary. But the boys knew that the day before had been a holiday and they had been down at the river bank at the dam and witnessed what occurred at the Lock House on the New Brighton side. It seems that there was frequently what was then called "bad blood" between young men from different districts; when they meet, trouble followed. In this case, two or three of the Boyle family from Chippewa Township, now part of College Hill, happened to meet two or three of the Magaw family from New Brighton and a melee ensued. The boys could see plainly from their positions and declared it was quite a scrap while it lasted; but ended in a sort of a drawn battle. They probably remember Henry Boyle, who was always a gentleman in every sense of the word, but even being dignified, carefully placed his high hat on the top of a shed so it would not be injured before entering into the scrimmage. So this explains how David Magaw got his black eye. Later David Magaw became a hotel keeper in New Brighton, PA.
1857, 1858, 1859, Miss Myra Reed taught in this old school shortly before the Civil War.
Miss Adelaide Sims, daughter of John Sims, of southeast comer of Eighth Street and Second Avenue, taught part of a term, 1858-1859, when she took sick and died. Miss Rebecca Robertson (later Mrs. John Perkins, sister of the late Win. Robertson of New Brighton) finished the term for her.
1859-1860 , the pupils' were Miss Emily Cowling, later Mrs. Issac Warren of New Brighton, Belle Arbuckle, Elizabeth McGahey, Thomas Hennon and Margaret Hennon, later Mrs. J. R Mitchell. The teacher was Miss Kate Warren, later Mrs. Win. Blake. The school directors were John Sims and Isaac Warren; the other names are missing. The Baptist Church was organized in this old school in 1860, though not accepted as a congregation until 1883.
During the Presidential election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President on November 6, 1860 on a cold rainy day. A crowd of young men including John, William and Edward McGahey, John Robertson were at James Cowling's store at the comer of Fourth Street and Seventh Avenue where Miss Emily Cowling was acting as a clerk, started up the hill to the school house. Christopher Large, then a lad of about 19, did not go. Miss Emily Cowling asked him why he did not go with the boys? He said, "Oh, I am not going with that crowd." He said, "Some day you and I will be able to go up there and vote together. Miss Cowling (later Mrs. Isaac Warren) waiting 60 years for that prediction to pass went to the polls of the First Ward of New Brighton and voted for Warren G. Harding in November 1920, and this was the last and the only vote she ever cast.
1865, when the news of the ending of the Civil War reached Brighton, the schools were dismissed and the scholars and parents formed a parade and marched up and down Main Street to celebrate with joy and glee that the war was won by the Northern Army. In the evening at the old school under the oil lamps, the people pushed the school benches to one side and held a dance. The dancing continued into the wee hours of the moming.
1866, Dr. Thomas G. McPherson, father of Frank McPherson former desk sergeant of Police of Beaver Falls, organized the first Union Sunday School and 32 scholars were present and one of the scholars was Miss Nettie Lee Bamard, later Mrs. Nettie Lee Sheldrake, who was a daughter of Daniel Bamard, told me that there was a stone fence which ran parallel with Patterson Street (now Seventeenth Street) from the Pennsylvania Railroad towards the Big Beaver River. On Sunday she and her sister would wear their old shoes until they reached the stone fence and would then put on their good shoes and put their old shoes in the bushes and walked down Cedar Street (now Eighth Avenue) and continued on until they reached Beech Street (now Ninth Street) and thence down to Church Street and turned left onto Oak Street (Now Eighth Street) and then to the Union Sunday School at the Old Red Brick School House at the southwest comer of Oak and Main Streets (now Eighth Street and Seventh Avenue) and the class was conducted by Dr. Thomas G. McPherson.
The dates of the Church Organizations held in this old School House:
The Presbyterian Church organized 1866.
The Methodist Episcopal Church in the spring of 1867.
The Methodist Protestant Church in the spring of 1869.
The United Presbyterian in the summer of 1869.
The United German Evangelical Church in 1871.
The Baptist Church in 1883.
The night school was taught by Mrs. Win. H. Newlon in 1880.
1880's, General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army spoke in this old school house in the 1880's. My father, Thomas Bannon Metheny, told me he paid twenty cents to hear him speak. General William Booth was touring the United States at that time. Father said he stood on a soap box so the people could see and hear him preach the Gospel of God. The Salvation Army had its barracks in the old school building in 1889 under the leadership of Captain Walker and they thought the building was unsafe, so they moved across the street into a store room.
The Old Red School House was a public school built upon land claimed at the time by James Patterson and later by his wife, but it was not until July 27, 1875 that a deed recorded in Deed Book volume 73, page 160 was made out by James and Eliza Patterson conveying the premises to the School district of Beaver Falls for the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars.
After the erection of the Eleventh Street School House in 1872, the school district of Beaver Falls sold the red brick building to John Reeves and James F. Merriman for $1025, recorded in Deed Book Volume 85, page 7 1, dated November 8, 1880 and signed by the following: James M. Fersenden, President and J. M. May, Secretary of the School.
The building was later sold to Harry W. Reeves. This building was used as a stable for Chandley Brothers, the plumbers, and it was a sore sight to the people of Beaver Falls, as this building should have been bought by the townspeople and preserved as a historical landmark for the future generations to come. This building was sold to a Mr. Poerlio and was dismantled in 1928.
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By Charles Townsend