A short news item appeared in the Lykens Register of October 31, 1873, noting the following:
The old frame schoolhouse near Buffington’s mill in Lykens Township, has been supplanted by a substantial brick structure.
The location of the original frame schoolhouse was in Specktown, Lykens Township, on a property known as Buffington’s Mill previously described on this blog as the Jacob Huber Gristmill and the Isaac Sitlinger Gristmill. The new brick schoolhouse was built across Specktown Road and was known as the Geise School or the Gise School.
See:
Not much is known about the first, one-room schoolhouse in Specktown, except that the structure no longer exists.
An article in the Farmers and Miners Journal, August 16, 1856, tells of a Sabbath School celebration that took place there and refers to the school as the Gise School, probably because the first known teacher was Joseph D. Gise, who served there from 1854-1856.
A Sabbath school celebration took place at number seven Gise School House, Lykens Township, on Saturday the 23rd last at nine o’clock. The procession was formed by J. D. Gise, Chief Marshall and assisted by J. P. Riegel, D. Romberger and others. They marched about a mile to a beautiful grove, where seats were provided to accommodate all. Revs. Mr. Sell and Romberger addressed the assemblage in an able manner after which refreshments were served to the full gratification of all present. In the afternoon, Mr. Hambright and Mr. H. B. Hoffman made appropriate remarks, the procession was re-formed and marched to the schoolhouse. Gratz Rifle Company, in full uniform was in attendance with its officers Messrs. O’Neill, Feagley, Shower and Moyer. The celebration passed off quietly and those connected with the arrangements deserve great credit.
The is no known photograph of the first Specktown School and further research needs to be done to determine more about it. It apparently was the center of community life from about 1854 to about 1873 when the new brick building was built.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.