Hills Academy (1832)

Hills Academy, at 22 Prospect Street in Essex, was built in 1832 on land donated by Joseph Hill. Funded by local businessmen, it served as a private school. It was run by a group of trustees until 1848, when it was leased to teacher Lucius Lyon, who constructed a seminary building next door for boarders. In the 1870s, the seminary building was sold and converted into a hotel, known initially as the Pettipaug House. It was later torn down. The Academy itself was sold to the town in 1903 and used intermittently as an elementary school until the 1930s, when it was leased to the The Improved Order of Red Men and became known as Red Men’s Hall. Saved from demolition in 1909, Hills Academy was purchased by the Essex Historical Society in 1954 and has since been used as a museum.

Barkhamsted Center Schoolhouse (1821)

The 1821 schoolhouse of Barkhamsted‘s Center school district was two stories tall when it was built. Due to population decline and the building being in need of repair, it was converted to a one-story building by removing the first floor in 1880. It ceased being used as a school in the 1930s. In 1980, the schoolhouse was moved to Center Hill Road from its original location, near what is now the Barkhamsted Reservoir, by the Barkhamsted Historical Society.

Old Stone Schoolhouse, Wolcott (1825)

The Old Stone Schoolhouse (pdf) is located at 155 Nichols Road in Wolcott. An extension was added to the building in 1898, which was attached to a frame woodshed (built in 1882) to form a new wing. At the time the addition was made, the date 1825 was inscribed in the school’s front gable, although the oldest part of the building may date back to 1821. In either case, the building is recognized as the oldest stone schoolhouse in Connecticut. Built as the town’s Southwest District school, it was in continuous use until 1930, when a new school was built. It was then purchased by Emily Morris of New Haven, whose grandfather, Lucius Tuttle, had taught at the school in 1829. In 1937, she gave it to the Mattatuck Historical Society of Waterbury and in 1963 it was purchased by the Wolcott Historical Society and is used as a museum of the town’s history.

Former Milford High School (1909)

Known locally as the Yellow Building (and later named the Diane S. Toulson Building), the Beaux-Arts structure at 38 W River Street in Milford was constructed in 1908-1909 as a high school. It was later used for all grades but in the 1980s it was threatened with demolition. Local citizens fought to save it and it was reused as senior housing. Today it continues as part of Elderly Housing Management under the name River Park Apartments.

Gallery on the Green (1872)

Since 1960 a former schoolhouse on the Canton Village Green has been home to the Canton Artists’ Guild. Now called the Gallery on the Green, the building dates to 1872, when it was known as “The Academy.” It was later called the Canton Street School House and functioned as an elementary school until it was closed in 1949. The Canton Volunteer Fire Department used it for meetings from 1950 to 1958, when a fire station was built. The schoolhouse was then rented by the Artists’ Guild until 1971, when the Fire Department deeded the building to the Guild for $1.

Granby Grange Hall (1866)

The building which today serves as the hall for Granby Grange No. 5 was built just after the Civil War (c. 1866?) as a one-room schoolhouse. In 1902, the town hall moved into the building after an earlier town hall burned down. In 1946, the Granby Grange bought the building from the town and moved it 150 feet south to its current location, at 212 North Granby Road, across from the First Congregational Church. The Granby Grange was first established in 1875, but in 1890 a group purchase of bad seeds led to its disbandment. It was reestablished in 1926 and has continued ever since.