The former Huletts school house as it looks today.
This past summer I had a chance to sit down with Francis Borden and talk in-depth about what it was like for him to attend the Huletts school house when he was a young boy. Below is my interview with him.
Attending a one room school house was made popular in the television series, Little House on the Prairie, but that was the way students in Dresden were educated for a long time.
“Yes, there were a number of schools in Dresden. Clemons had a school. Dresden had a school near where the old town dump once was and the Huletts school was actually District # 5. The boundary line for attending the Huletts school was on top of the mountain. But in those days everyone walked to school and you had to be close enough to walk.”
Could you give the readers of the Huletts Current an idea of what a school day was like for you?
“Well to begin, I had to make three trips up the mountain every day. I walked up the mountain in the morning. We got sent home for lunch, so I had to walk up the mountain again at one in the afternoon, and finally I had a job cleaning the school house so I would walk up again after school to sweep and clean the building. So if nothing else, I got my exercise.”
So there were children of numerous ages learning different things simultaneously?
“Yes, for instance, the Gregories from the top of the mountain were there, Ken Robbins’ son Ben Robbins was there and and Beulah Cooper was actually the last teacher I remember. Different things were being taught to different students but it was a very good education. The fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic were drilled into everyone.”
Are there any pictures that remain from those days?
“Ben Robbins sent me one a few years ago and I’ll be happy to look for it for you.”
The Huletts school house only went up to the 8th grade, correct?
“Yes, when we graduated were were taken by station wagon to Whitehall for high school.”
Station Wagon?
“Yes in those days, no buses came to Huletts and there were only about 4 or 5 of us from Huletts. So we were driven in a station wagon to Whitehall. I actually graduated early because I skipped 2 grades. So when I went to high school, I was only 12.”
So the Huletts school turned out some well educated students!
“I would say so. I did the 1st and 2nd grade in one year and then 5th and 6th grade in one year. It was a good education and we were made to work.”
It certainly was a time that was much different than today. Thank you for sharing your recollections with us.
“I’m happy to. The one thing I wish is that I had more pictures. It was a way of life that really can’t be described. But that’s the way it was. I’ll certainly never forget walking up the mountain three times a day. Every day.” (Big Smile)