Browntown School Building

browntown school building

Browntown School Building 1929

Source:

History of Browntown, 1856-1929, Accession #11587, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville. Va.

Information about this photo:

This is The Second Browntown Schoolhouse

The brief written history accompanying this photo states “We have a three-room school house that was well built in 1905 by Mr. Jacob Masemer.” The 1905 date is incorrect (the school was actually built in 1907) but they did get the name of the builder right.

The photo below is of children who would have started at this school at about the time this photo was taken. By 1932-33 they were in the 3rd and 4th grade class. 

elementary class
school building 2

The photo on the left is of the same building but taken several years later – most likely, between 1940 and 1950. The building continued to operate as a school and as central focus of many community activities until it was closed in 1970. Shortly after this ownership was transferred to the Browntown Community Center Association). It is not known exactly when the beautiful bell tower and bell were removed.

Excerpt from “A History of The Browntown School” by Rebecca Poe

(Prepared for the Browntown School Reunion, September, 2000)

“An ever-growing community made one more addition to Browntown ‘School necessary. The fourth room was added, and became part of the school in September 1949. The school board and county government began to look at expenses, however,and decided that consolidation of the schools would save money and provide a more efficient education. They started by dropping grades – first, the school was grades one through six, and then five, and toward the end, when kindergarten was being added to the elementary educational program, K through 4.

Finally, in 1970, the county decided that there were no longer enough pupils or that it was no longer economically feasible to operate a school at Browntown. When the school closed, the community came together and insisted the property remain public.A community center association was formed and for years leased the building from the school board. When the school board decided it had to be rid of the building, it transferred it to the board of supervisors, who in turn sold it to the community center association for $1.

The above is the physical history of the Browntown School. Its real history, however, is written in the memory and on the hearts of the hundreds of persons through at least three generations, who attended school there and received a fine basic education that somehow seems to have escaped the abilities of modern consolidated schools.”

browntown schoolhouse

The First Browntown Schoolhouse (1890-1907)

The picture below shows the first Browntown schoolhouse and the children enrolled there in 1906. With agriculture as the base of the economy, the school year revolved around planting and harvesting. This meant that in agricultural communities like Browntown the school year lasted seven or eight months so children could be available at specific times of the year to help on the farm. Many, if not all of those children would have had their education interrupted for 3-4 months during the first half of 1907 when the old school was torn down and the new one erected. 

original schoolhouse

In 1906 all Warren County schools were photographed for display at the Jamestown Exposition. Up until then small one-room schoolhouses were the norm in Warren County. The teacher, Miss Genevieve Cockrille (later Mrs. Bishop) is the first person on the left in the second row. It is not known who the two men are who standing on the right of the group.

This first Browntown schoolhouse was built around 1890. It would have had students of widely differing ages, all of whom had to be taught together in a 1-room building. Two years later G.E. Roy, the County Schools Superintendent, (see article in the Warren Sentinel, Volume 32, Number 35, 21 December 1900, page 2), stated that:

“The Browntown Graded School, taught by Worth Kinzer as principal, and Miss Etta Boyd, as assistant, was found in the main in good shape. Well organized, fairly well disciplined and ably taught. The team is a good one and a strong one. Mr. Kinzer has a fine capacity for teaching. Miss Etta is a model primary teacher. I notice the classes in recitations have acquired the habit of answering in under tones hardly audible at times. This can be remedied with a little pains by the teacher. The school has on roll about 70 pupils.“

In those days teachers seldom stayed at a school for more than a few years – eleven months later (i.e. November, 1901) Stephen D. Boyd, Jr. took over from Worth Kinzer as principal, with a new assistant, his sister Miss Anna Boyd. When G.E. Roy, carried out another inspection that month he reported that the school was in good shape and, in particular, that “Little Steve”, is very popular and acceptable at Browntown. 

“He is well qualified for he is skillful and seems perfectly at home in the school room. I confidently believe and expect good results from the Browntown school There is one feature in the school I have to mention—it was so noticeable—“young Steve” has in his department 25 pupils, and out of this number has only 3 boys, while he has 22 young ladies from 16 to 19. I heard it said while I was there that all the young ladies in Gooney Manor” were going to school to him. Well, “Steve,” all I have to say is, hold the fort, be sure and keep your head above water. This school has about 50 on the roll”.