A photograph from 1909 of the Minersville Street School, Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
The school photo, which is from the Schuylkill County Historical Society, was published in the “Looking Back” feature of the Pottsville Republican, November 3, 1979. None of the individuals in the photo could be identified in 1979, but perhaps by now, the historical society has some or all of the names.
The text is by Joseph M. Hanney, who was the vice president of the society:
This 1909 picture surely tells us that each room in every [school] building was in effect a “one room” school. There were perhaps several grades in each room, and students learned both from the teacher and each other as separate classes were called “up front” to recite their studies. This practice applied more to the township one-room schools that dotted Schuylkill County and elsewhere; but teachers almost everywhere became legends in their own time. Something, indeed, can be seen in the faces of the children; and note the teacher in the back of the room; and don’t forget the pot-bellied stove in the middle of every room….
Later, this school became the Nicholas Biddle School, in honor of the African American orderly of Capt. James Wren of the Washington Artillerists. In their march as First Defenders through Baltimore to Washington, in the first days of the Civil War, the Artillerists were pelted with stones by the Southern-sympathizers of Baltimore, resulting in the shedding of the first blood – that of Nicholas Biddle who was hit in the head. Today, a plaque on a monument on West Market Street, Pottsville, placed in 1951, honors Nicholas Biddle.
_____________________________________________
From Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.