Pocopson Township Schools and Education History, 1850 through 1923

The Locust Grove School documented history from December 1855 through 1923 overlaps two major periods in Pennsylvania education history: The Rise of the Common School System, 1818-1867[1] and The Long Progressive Era, 1867-1930. [2] School construction, reform, and oversight characterized the 1840s and 1850s; this period benefited from standardization in general, including teacher training and schoolhouse design. Dominic Vitiello wrote: “Between 1840 and 1850, the number of common schools in Pennsylvania jumped from 4,968 to 9,061.” During this time, grading–separating students by age–was recommended, but rural schoolhouses, like Locust Grove, most often remained common or ungraded. The Locust Grove Schoolhouse typifies the rural common schoolhouse; it served students ages five through 18, in one room, with one teacher. Pennsylvania’s School Law of 1867 gave school districts powers of eminent domain in the selection of schoolhouse sites, greatly facilitating school construction.[3] In Pocopson Township, this manifested in the modernization and rebuilding of its three one-room Schools: a new Baker’s Schoolhouse was built in 1866; the Locust Grove Schoolhouse was rebuilt and expanded in 1870; a brick privy was added to the Locust Grove Schoolhouse in 1880; and a new Pocopson Schoolhouse replaced the earlier Lenape/Darlington’s Schoolhouse in 1882. Pocopson school board minutes indicate that the Locust Grove Schoolhouse was the most attended in the Township.[4] The Locust Grove Schoolhouse records show short tenure for teachers throughout its history; the majority of teachers stayed one to two years only. This roll included at least one local historic figure, Christian Sanderson–teacher, poet, historian–who taught at the Locust Grove Schoolhouse for one year (1908-1909).[5] [6] During the first decades of the twentieth century, legislation encouraged the closing of ungraded one-room schools and funded the transportation of students to larger consolidated schools. In 1923, the Locust Grove School was closed and students attended the newly consolidated school serving grades one through twelve, called Unionville Vocational Joint Consolidated School. At the time of the Locust Grove School closure, 9,000 ungraded one-room schools remained in Pennsylvania.[7]