District 12 - Wallens Hill School
There have been schools up on Wallens Hill, the twelfth school district, since about 1800. The 1857 county map shows a school on what today is Old North Road, right at the town line, but the 1874 town map does not show a school. This neighborhood was part of what was called a Union District that straddled the line between Barkhamsted and Winchester. It may be noted that the name Winsted, comes from the first syllable of Winchester and last syllable of Barkhamsted. There was a school on the Barkhamsted side in 1857, but for much of the 19th century, the kids went to a different school just over the line in Winsted. It was an on-again off-again relationship. In 1909 when the town assumed responsibility for public education, Barkhamsted built a new school on Old North Road just this side of the line. This school remained in use until 1928 when the kids went back to the school on the Winsted side for a few years before finally being transferred to the Riverton School.
Class Photos & Schoolhouse Memories Archive
Wallens Hill, ~ 1910
Teacher: Mabel Hart
Pupils from families: Blewitt, Johnson, Perry, Ryan, Schulman, Tibbetts
At a meeting with a group of elderly residents several people confirmed that the picture shows the Wallens Hill School on the Winsted side. This was part of a “union district” drawing from both the Barkhamsted and Winsted neighborhoods on Wallens Hill. I’m told that the school was discontinued in 1910 and the building was moved across to the Barkhamsted side and became became part of Charlie Day’s house.
Original photo: Notation on the back reads: “About 1910 or soon after. School was in use from 1910-1924. Wallens Hill Schoolhouse. Page 59 Barkhamsted Heritage Book.” We do not have the original.
Digital image: MD-20.
Wallens Hill, Undated
The Wallens Hill District was a “Union District”, that served part of Barkhamsted and also part of Winsted. There were two different buildings that served as the schoolhouse at various times, this one in Barkhamsted (but very close to the town line) and the other as shown in image MD-20. Looks like 37 kids (14 boys, 23 girls) female teacher with what looks like a second adult. It is from the DeMars collection at the Conn. Historical Society and is listed as item 2015.87.3873. This picture is undated.
Digital image: MD-36.
Help Us Fill in the Blanks!
Please note that there are images of school groups in this collection about which we have no current information. Also, not every student in every picture is identified: sometimes the handwriting is too hard to read. So, consider this a first step in locating the available pictures of your ancestor. There may be more in the collection if you dig a bit deeper.
Feel free to add additional information and/or pictures to the collection. We are always interested in acquiring digital scans of relevant pictures: you don’t have to part with what may be a cherished heirloom photo. Come visit or email us at bhs@barkhamstedhistory.us.