Celebrate this sun-filled schoolhouse with its captivating history. Pay tribute to the stewardship of generations of families and neighbors who have learned and played here, and have worked to preserve this delightful place.
Archival photos courtesy of the Norwich Historical Society.
1865-2021: Root Schoolhouse and Root District Community Club
In the mid-1800’s Norwich had twenty functioning one-room schoolhouses. Because of Norwich citizen efforts, two remain in their original condition, Root and Beaver Meadow.
1865: The first reference to a Root District School House (District #5) is noted in the Town Report. This school was located on the south side of Goodrich Four Corners Road between Rt 5 and Union Village Road less than a mile from where it is now located.It was in continual disrepair and students attended other schools from around 1874 until 1908 when the Town Report once again clearly includes the “Root School”.
1917: Root School noted to have 14 students grades 1st-6th.
1925: A much improved Root School House is built on the Union Village Road site. (see 1932 photo in historic photos above.)
1937: The present Root Schoolhouse is built after the 1925 schoolhouse burned in 1936.
1939: Root School is awarded a “Superior” plaque by the Vermont Department of Education.
1940: Norwich has five functioning one-room schoolhouses.
1945: Its enrollment having dwindled to four, Root School closes.
1951: Pompanoosac Schoolhouse, Norwich’s last functioning one-room schoolhouse closes, when it was decided that all Norwich children would attend the village school, now Marion Cross School.
1952: The Norwich School Board deeds Root School to the Root District Game Club for five dollars for use as a community center.
1952-2011: Root Schoolhouse is used as a hunting clubhouse, a horse riding clubhouse, and, since the mid-1970s, as the Root District Community Center, hosting many potluck suppers, as well as weddings, birthday parties, and other public events.
2002: A building assessment of Root Schoolhouse declares the structure to be in “excellent condition” but determines the instability of the building’s foundation, which had been steadily deteriorating for decades: “The walls [of the foundation] if not replaced will eventually fail. The only solution is to either move the building or jack it up and replace the entire foundation.”
2003-2005: Following the 2002 building assessment, the Game Club mounts a townwide campaign to raise money for building repairs, generating enough money to repair the roof, add a fresh coat of paint on the exterior (courtesy of the Boy Scouts), and sand and refinish the floors (courtesy of volunteers). Nevertheless, this major effort still falls well short of raising the money needed to repair the foundation.
2011: All public use of Root Schoolhouse ceases when it is determined that the foundation is no longer safe enough. The building sits empty and unused.
2011-today: Saving Root Schoolhouse
2011: Norwich real estate attorney Dan Grossman offers pro bono legal support for the effort to preserve Root Schoolhouse.
2012: Root and Beaver Meadow schoolhouse organizers collaborate with Norwich Public Library on a Dr. Seuss-themed fundraiser that fills Tracy Hall. A Valley News story about the event and the schoolhouses is on the front page the following day.
2012: The Norwich Women’s Club gives the Root District Game Club a $2,000 grant to work with a Norwich architecture firm, Smith & Vansant (which donates several hours of its services) to develop plans for its future. The Preservation Trust of Vermont also gives the Game Club a grant of $250 for this project.
2012-16: Dan & Whit’s and the Norwich Inn host four wine-tasting fundraisers in support of Norwich’s schoolhouses.
2013: Root Schoolhouse and Beaver Meadow Schoolhouse grace the cover of the Norwich Town Report.
2013: Root Schoolhouse is added to the National Register of Historic Places, along with Beaver Meadow Schoolhouse. These two schoolhouses, which were nominated by the Norwich Historic Preservation Commission, may be the first twentieth century Vermont one-room schoolhouses to be added to the Register. The Valley News reports the story on its front page. The news is quickly picked up by the Associated Press and covered by media outlets from coast to coast, including the Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle.
2013-15: Root District Game Club, Historic New England, CATV, Beaver Meadow Schoolhouse Association, and the Norwich Historical Society collaborate on a documentary about the history of Norwich’s one-room schoolhouses. Ten students who attended Norwich one-room schoolhouses in the 1930s and 1940s are interviewed and dozens of historic photos are identified for use in the documentary.
2014: Root District Game Club receives 501(c)3 non-profit designation from the IRS.
2014: Root District Game Club receives a matching pledge of $40,000 from the Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation.
2014: Here in Hanover publishes article about Root Schoolhouse.
2015: Back to School: Lessons from Norwich’s One-Room Schoolhouses, a documentary about the history of Norwich’s schoolhouses made in partnership with Historic New England and CATV, premieres in the summer to full houses at Wilder Center and Marion Cross School. In October and November, the documentary is broadcast on Vermont Public Television.
2015: The Norwich Women’s Club awards the Root District Game Club a grant to provide for the duplication of 1,000 DVDs of “Back to School: Lessons from Norwich’s One-Room Schoolhouses” to help raise awareness about Root Schoolhouse.
2016: Root District Game Club receives a donation of $5,000 from Mascoma Savings Bank to help rebuild the schoolhouse’s foundation.
2016: The Country School Association of America awards the Root District Game Club a $300 Award for Scholarship and Artistry for its role in producing “Back to School,” as well as a $1,000 Preservation Grant. This is the first known financial support received by Root Schoolhouse from a national organization.
2016: The Norwich Women’s Club awards the Root District Game Club a $2,000 grant to help rebuild the schoolhouse’s foundation.
2016: Historic New England awards the Root District Game Club a $1,000 Community Preservation Grant. Every year, Historic New England distributes six awards to historic preservation projects in each of the six New England states. Root Schoolhouse was the year’s lone award recipient for Vermont.
2016: The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation awards the Root District Game Club a Historic Preservation Grant of $9,300 to help us rebuild the foundation and correct the drainage problems that have contributed to its deterioration through the years.
2017: Root District Game Club receives a grant of $40,000 from the Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation, thanks to a matching pledge offered by the Foundation in 2014.
2018: Plans are developed by Smith & Vansant Architects and DeWolfe Engineering to renovate the Schoolhouse foundation.
2018: Root District Game Club Annual Meeting and potluck is held at the Norwich Historical Society with an “envisioning the future” session.
2019: Webster and Donovan Excavating is chosen to serve as the contractor on the foundation project.
2019: The Root Schoolhouse is lifted off its crumbling foundation, the site is excavated, drainage remediation is added, concrete is poured, and the Schoolhouse is placed back down on a solid foundation.
2019: The Root District Game Club has a booth at the Norwich Fair.
2019: Through a collaboration among the Root Schoolhouse, the Beaver Meadow Schoolhouse and the Norwich Historical Society, the Norwich one-room schoolhouses are highlighted with a float at the Norwich parade.
2019: Goodrich Four Corners placed on the National Registry of Historic Districts.
2019: Supporters are provided with tours of the renovated Schoolhouse.
2019: Root District Game Club Annual Meeting and potluck is held at the Norwich Historical Society including building updates and a celebratory slide show.
2020: Paul Derksen, of Turning Leaf, installs an ADA compliant backdoor in the Schoolhouse.
2020: Thanks to one generous donor, the historic Schoolhouse windows are restored by Thomas McLoughlin and the entire building is painted by BM Painters.
2020: The Schoolhouse building is rewired by Kyle Martino.
2020: Work is begun by volunteers to clear dead and invasive trees along the upper boundary.
2020: The William G Pomeroy Foundation awards the Root District Game Club with $1,500 to fund a historic marker sign recognizing the National Historic Registry status of The Root District Schoolhouse, to be installed in spring 2021.
2020: Blake Spencer Associates and Graham Webster start the ADA ramp by burying the piers.
2020: Due to delays experienced with Covid-19, Root Schoolhouse is given a 1-year extension to meet the VT Safety Code Permit Requirements.
2020: The first annual Pie Sale is held with masks and social distancing at the renovated Schoolhouse. Thanks to our pie bakers and to Hogwash Farm for allowing people to park on their property and walk through the farm to get to the sale.
2020: The Norwich Women’s Club awards a $2,000 grant to the Root District Game Club to assist with the electrical rewiring of the Schoolhouse.
2021: The Root Schoolhouse joins the national effort to illuminate homes and public buildings in memory of those who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021: The Schoolhouse globe lights are restored.
2021: The Norwich Lions Club awards a $350 grant toward the front porch railings to be constructed by Rye Keller. She generously donates her labor.
2021: Blake Spencer of Spencer Associates works toward completion of the ADA ramp. Graham Webster creates a path to an ADA parking spot and a pad for the ADA portable toilet. The ditching and driveway are contoured to direct the water off the hillside.
2021: Chippers is hired to eliminate the poison ivy on the bank and near the parking area after volunteers cleared the blackberry bushes.
2021: The Root Schoolhouse once again appears on the front page of the Valley News as it prepares for its Reopening Celebration. Norwich Times writes an article on the schoolhouse re-opening. Other on-line publications, Artful, About Norwich, and Daybreak, announce the event as well.
2021: Re-Opening Celebration on August 28 is a great success. Over 125 people attend. The Root Schoolhouse opens to the community for renting as an event space.
2021: The second Annual Pie Sale Event is held at the beginning of October once again with masks, lively music and tours of the building.
2021: At the end of a successful fiscal year a hard working group of neighbors hold the Annual Board Meeting on zoom for the second year in a row due to Covid 19. Elections are held for new officers and a set of revised by-laws. Three new board members have joined and plans are underway for spring 2022 and an official membership drive and rentals to support the organization’s operating expenses. Fundraising will continue into 2022 to pay for the ramp and railings and for a new roof. Lots of energy abounds for the Root Schoolhouse: Community Space
Quotes
“At the dedication exercises [at the opening of the rebuilt Root School] the Deputy Commissioner stated that he had received a request from a person in another state to name a school to visit which would exemplify the Vermont school improvement work. He went on to say that he had listed the Root school along with three or four others as being a fine example of this work.” — Norwich Town Report, 1938
“According to the Multiple Property Documentation Form for Educational Resources in Vermont, ‘few one room schoolhouses survive in their original use and fewer survive in their original condition’ … The Root District School is a wonderfully well-preserved example of a 20th century ‘Superior’ grade one room rural schoolhouse. Its interior and exterior integrity and its pristine rural setting are rare and significant in Vermont.” — Lyssa Papazian, historic preservation consultant who prepared Root Schoolhouse’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, 2012
“The walls [of the foundation] if not replaced will eventually fail. The only solution is to either move the building or jack it up and replace the entire foundation.” — Root Schoolhouse building assessment, 2002
“The framing for the first floor … is in excellent condition and well built.” — Root Schoolhouse building assessment, 2002
“The 1937 building is remarkably well-preserved on both the exterior and interior and retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association.” — Lyssa Papazian, 2012
“It should be noted that in the 1950s and again in 1974 the 1937 school building was having foundation problems similar to the 1925 school that preceded it on this site, which had foundation problems within 10 years of construction. The foundation was repaired and partially replaced in 1975 but is again quite deteriorated and unstable. This history suggests a site or drainage issue that has not yet been addressed … [The building is] remarkably intact historically and architecturally though … the foundation which was replaced in 1975 is in very poor and unstable condition.” — Lyssa Papazian, 2012
Root Schoolhouse 