Noah Webster School, Hartford (1900)

The Noah Webster School is an elementary school on Whitney Street in Hartford’s West End. It was named for the famous lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author, Noah Webster, who was born in West Hartford. The school was designed in the Tudor Revival style by architect William C. Brocklesby. Additions were made to the building in 1906 and 1909 by Brocklesby & Smith, in 1932 by Malmfeldt, Adams & Prentice, and most recently by DuBose Associates as the school was converted into a “MicroSociety Magnet School.”

Founders Hall, Loomis-Chaffee School (1916)

The Loomis School in Windsor, later to become Loomis-Chaffee, was founded by five Loomis siblings who had all lost their own children. In the 1910s, the firm of Murphy & Dana of New York created a plan for the school‘s campus that would feature a symmetrical quadrangle and covered walkways, reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson’s plan for the University of Virginia. Anchoring the quadrangle is the centerpiece of the Georgian Revival-style campus: Founders Hall, completed in 1916. The building, which originally contained the school’s entire academic program, also houses Founders Chapel.

Sedgwick Middle School (1931)

Sedgwick Middle School in West Hartford (one of three now in the town) was opened in 1931 as a combination junior high school (in the west wing) and elementary school (in the east wing). In 1956, the elementary school moved out and Sedgwick became exclusively a junior high (called a middle school from 1979). A rear wing was added in 1989-1990, the library was expanded in 2001 and another wing constructed in 2003. The school was named for William Thompson Sedgwick. Born in West Hartford in 1855, Sedgwick, a bacteriologist and educator, was an authority on public health who taught biology at M.I.T. from 1883 until his death in 1921.

The Academy, Clinton (1801)

The Academy Hall building in Clinton was built in 1801 by twenty men of the town for use as a school to prepare local students for college. The teacher lived upstairs and taught in classrooms downstairs. The Academy later passed to town ownership and continued as a school and was used for a time for town meetings. The building was remodeled in the Italianate style later in the nineteenth century. Later leased to the local Grange, the Academy is now used by the Clinton Parks and Recreation Department. (more…)

Bulkeley School, New London (1873)

The Bulkeley School, the gift of Leonard Hallam Bulkley, was an all-boys high school in New London. It was built in 1871-1873 and continued as a private school until 1951, when New London High School opened. The Bulkeley School then became the New London Junior High School until it finally closed in the 1970s. As explained in A modern History of New London County, Connecticut, Vol. I (1922):

Mr. Bulkeley was a merchant of modest pretensions, whose place of business was very near the school which now bears his name. He was born December 22, 1799, and died December 19, 1849. He left an estate valued at something less than $25,000 to found a secondary school which should be free to boys of New London. In his will he provided that the funds should be kept intact until the trustees, who were named in the will, should decide that they were justified in the erection of the schoolhouse. […]

This official board decided in 1870 that the estate had increased so considerably in its careful management that they were justified in beginning operations. Accordingly, plans were secured from the famous architect, Mr. Eidlitz, and upon a lot presented to them by the city they erected a very substantial and attractive building. How little they anticipated the growth of the city may be seen from the fact that the school provided seating capacity for only forty-two boys in the main study hall. The school was opened in September, 1873

The building, designed by Leopold Eidletz, had various additions constructed over the years, starting with an assembly room and laboratories in 1899 (further additions were built in 1912, 1922 and 1934). When the city purchased the school building in 1951, the money went into a trust fund and the Bulkeley School Trustees and the Alumni Association now give out annual scholarships. The former school building served as the City’s recreation offices and then stood vacant for a time. The Mohegan Tribe acquired the building for use as a professional office and demolished one the earlier additions for a parking garage. in 1992 the former Bulkeley School building was chosen as the new home of the Regional Multicultural Magnet School. In 2003 the building was renovated and expanded, remaining earlier additions being replaced with a substantial new building attached to the original structure. The structure no longer has its original tower.

Trap Falls Schoolhouse (1872)

The Trap Falls School is a former one-room schoolhouse located at the Shelton History Center complex. Built in 1872, it originally stood at the corner of Huntington Street and Trap Fall Road in Shelton. It was later acquired by the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company, which constructed the nearby Trap Falls Reservoir and used the school building as a storage shed. The company donated it to the Shelton Historical Society in 1971.