Little Red Schoolhouse, Winchester (1815)

Located at the intersection of Platt Hill and Taylor Brook Roads in Winchester is a one-room schoolhouse built in 1815 to replace an earlier one on the same site that had burned down in the 1790s. The new building, Winchester’s District No. 8 schoolhouse, was heated by a fireplace until a box stove was installed in the 1830s. The schoolhouse was in use until it closed in 1908. It then remained abandoned for the next eight years. In 1916, William H. Hall, a historian for whom Hall High School in West Hartford is named, expressed his concern for the neglected building in an article Winsted Evening Citizen. This inspired Clifford Bristol to buy and repair the building. Bristol had been a student at the school about 1870 and his father, Charles A. Bristol, had been a teacher there. In June of 1916, Bristol held a reunion in the school of former teachers and students. In 1923 another meeting was held in the building which formed the Little Red Schoolhouse Association, dedicated to preserving the historic building. The organization’s membership had dwindled by the early 2000s, but in recent years there has been renewed interest and fundraising efforts to allow restoration of the building to its original condition. The restored schoolhouse reopened to the public in 2018. Other Connecticut buildings called “The Little Red Schoolhouse” can be found in North Branford (built 1805) and Wethersfield (built 1869).Bristol held a reunion in the school of former teachers and students. In 1923 another meeting was held in the building which formed the Little Red Schoolhouse Association, dedicated to preserving the historic building. The organization’s membership had dwindled by the early 2000s, but in recent years there has been renewed interest and fundraising efforts to allow restoration of the building to its original condition. The restored schoolhouse reopened to the public in 2018.