Woodbury Graded School: National Register!

National Park Service:

“The town of Woodbury had been served by several small scattered schoolhouses until 1914 when the centrally located Woodbury Graded School was constructed. Architecturally, it is an excellent example of an early 20th-century rural Vermont graded school. Its construction and history embody the economic and social history of the community, while its prominent location in the center of the town attests to its importance.

Several factors led to the construction of the new school. Statewide, large centrally located schools, like Woodbury’s, replaced smaller scattered district schools after a 1892 Vermont State law turned educational control over to individual towns. The construction of these schools was influenced by the State Board of Health’s standards, which beginning in 1904, called for adequate sanitation, ventilation, and lighting. The Woodbury Graded School was a thoroughly modern school with large banks of windows, steam heat, and indoor plumbing, quite a contrast to the ten modified houses which had served its school children in the past. The town of Woodbury experienced a major economic and population boom at the turn of the 20th century spurred by the discovery of local deposits of granite. It was during this boom period in the town’s history that it needed, and could afford, to build a new modern school, aligned with statewide standards and proudly located in the center of the town.

Four classrooms comprise the first floor of the school, while a large gymnasium/auditorium fills the second floor. This auditorium was often used as a public hall because of its large size and the school’s central location. The school has experienced very little alteration, and today continues to provide education for around 90 Woodbury children in grades K-6…”-https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/centralvermont/cv42.htm

Wikipedia:

“The Woodbury Graded School is a historic school building located at 63 Valley Lake Road in Woodbury, Vermont. Built in 1919, it is a prominent local example of Colonial Revival architecture, and of a period grade school. The building continues to serve its original purpose, now called the Woodbury Elementary School, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.[1]

The Woodbury Graded School is located on the western fringe of Woodbury’s small village center, on the south side of Valley Lake Road. It is a two-story wood-frame building, with a hip roof and exterior of wooden shingles and clapboards. The roof has an eave with exposed rafter ends, two large chimneys rising from the long ends, and a hip roofed dormer at the center of the long side. The main entrance, centered on the long side, is sheltered by a broad gable-roofed hood, supported by plain triangular brackets; its gable and eave have similar exposed rafter ends. The entry area includes a main entrance halfway between the basement and first floor levels, with a handicap ramp rising on the right side to a second entrance at the first floor. It has bands of sash windows, a characteristic of period schools mandated by state standards.[2]

The school was built in 1919, as part of the town’s efforts to consolidate its district schools, and to handle an influx of students after the area’s economy boomed because of its successful granite quarries. The building has continued to serve as the town’s primary school since its construction, and presently serves grades K-6.[2]”-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodbury_Graded_School#:~:text=The%20Woodbury%20Graded%20School%20is,of%20a%20period%20grade%20school.

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