Lake Street School Photograph Found

by Lynne Belluscio

Back in January I wrote about some of the schools in the Village and I included a photograph of the school on Lake Street, adjacent to School Street – (thus the name).

At the time, I searched (I thought) all over for a photograph of the Lake Street School and couldn't find one. The only place I could see it was in old photographs of St. Peter's Church and the image was pretty poor. I had photographs of the interior of the school, one of which I included in the LeRoy book, but none of the outside.

Well, the photo was here all along, I just didn't look hard enough. It's a little faded, but you can definitely see the school building with the tower on top. The handwritten note on the back says the picture was taken about 1880. The teachers were T.A. Gowin and Miss Hattie Knowlton. Sitting on the tree fence is Mary Bishop and Howard Mason. Somewhere in the back row is Augusta Merritt.

This brick school replaced an old stone school on the site and the brick school was built in 1869. In 1877 it was damaged by fire but quickly repaired. In 1884, the school was listed as District #4 on Lake Street. G. Fordham was the Chairman of the School Board and the Trustee was A.R. Witter; the Clerk was Ransom Coe; the Collector was Thomas Gallagher and the Librarian was John Pfisterer. All of them had just been re-elected and it was voted to raise $650 with taxes.

We have three interior photos of the school in session, the most recent was taken on May 3, 1904. We also have an undated photograph of the 1st and 2nd grades of the Lake Street School with Miss Jean McPherson listed as teacher. All of the students are identified on the back including Ethel Snow, Mary Louise Samson, Percy Luttrell, and Tony Caccamise.

I am not sure when the school closed, but in 1911 the building was sold to John Doran. The building was made into a two story, double apartment and still stands on Lake Street with two porches attached to the front. If any readers have additional information about the Lake Street School, we would be interested in knowing about it. Contact me at the office at 768-7433.

 

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - March 6, 2011