Regrettably, once again, there are no photos of the two districts which are the subject of this week’s article. Perhaps someone will rummage through an old trunk and come up with the photos of what these two district schools were like. This may be wishful thinking, but at times all historians have to have these dreams.

JOINT DISTRICT #9

Joint District #9, which included Coventry and Greene, due to the lack of population to support just one school district, was formed in Coventry in 1822. School research by Mildred English Folsom of the school districts of the township of Greene (p. 35) reveals the following facts regarding this joint district that as above is written and that the research that she documented gives the fact that the school records show students attending this school from 1830 to 1844.

Whether the school was open after that date is not known. Children attending this district range from a low of 3 (1836) students to a high of 22 (1843). Additional information reveals that the following gentlemen served as trustees of this joint district during the time period above. A timely salute to these men who so graciously gave their time to the attention of education of not only their own children but also to their neighbor’s children living in the same district. The names that Mrs. Folsom documented are as follows: J. Griswold, E. H. Lee (1836) - Alanson Foot - Hial Lee (1837) - S. Gould - E. Johnson (1839) and Alanson Foot - J. Griswold and C. Jones(1843).

Mrs. Folsom gave no name to this joint district and the approximate location of this district is located on what is now the Wylie-Horton Road off Bowbell Road almost on the town lines of Greene and Coventry. According to information forwarded to my attention this schoolhouse is not longer standing and could very well have been in what is now the Bowbell State Forest. If additional historical information surfaces, once again we will return to Joint District #9.