Oley Valley High School - Olean Yearbook (Oley, PA)

Page 14 text:

Ezght 4, 'TDI 1,55 Next the Morav1an school was rnstxtuted 1n 1742 Erected on a srxteen acre plot 1t was a combmauon church and school The fust floor conta1ned four rooms each wxth 1ts own hreplace the second floor was drvrded 1nto two separate halls One of these halls was used for publ1c worsh1p wh1le the other was ut1l1zed for school purposes On the thlrd floor there were lodgtng fac111t1es for some of the students In years to come so many parents were anx1ous that lhell' ch1ldren should learn to read and Wflle that the church was no longer able to provtde for them As a result nerghbormg settlers often formed an organrzed body wh1ch mam tamed a school on the farm whlch had the best roads To some extent these were pr1vate schools each pupll 1n attendance pa1d a sum of from f1Ve to ten cents a day to the teacher The settlers soon rea11zed that a better system of schools was deslrable a system affordmg broader more concerted educatmon Thxs reahzatmon led to the Publ1c School System and the erectron of one room schools Wllh floor drmenslons of about thxrty by twenty f1Ve feet The teacher was sltuated 1n , 3 Q' ., if ' 4 ' ii ,' . f.'t,, -kg s!-A 3 M 'I :2s-+-- l FEE 3 6 ti F . ' -wzwef. :nr lg 7,3 ,, '.g':x,g, ff 5, '31-.- , ne.mfa.4 -een-QM fr - r y 1 ' -ff ,,, V - gr -f , . , . I I - 1 . I - I I , .

Page 13 text:

Early History of the Oley Schools As we look back to the days before the Oley Townsh1p Consolrdated School we see long years of hard work wh1ch all cornbmed for the achreve ment of an admrrable goal In the begrnnmg educat1on was marntamed rn the homes of some of the early settlers Chrldren were taught practrcal subjects and an emphasls on rehgrous teachmg gave them fme moral trammg The hrst step toward more formal educat1on was the establrshment of church schools The fert1l1ty of the so1l rn our valley attracted a group of stalwart settlers who lrke the Pur1tans were rmbued wrth a sense of relrgrous tolerance They were of noble stock skrlled 1n arts and 1ndustr1es .g:S2'::- Serem

Page 15 text:

-ps fit X i. ,, g .1 I. 1,04 1 , A Q. 4 3.-1 1 W - ,j - 51 4 ef A . l l J f . V1-A1 f:1?,f-Sw We ,. gg, my 3 452- , . ...MV ,44-J 1 0:11 4-fr 1,114 fH2:?4Q'2.:, 1 ' fra, ifzfjeez-fffarkirf wi, e. 4.. f,'T1 1 the center of the room, bordered on all sides by desks in which the books were stored. There were twelve of these schools distributed throughout the townshlp area Merkel s School Breber s School Yoder s School one midway between Oley Churches and Gnesemers property Wriqhts School Werst School Knabb s School Guildrn s School Hunter School Maurer School Rerff s School and one located on the Maurer property Oley Academy the last school organized before consolidation was erected because of the widespread lnterest 1n education mamiested by the people of the community It was opened on December l 1857 with forty pupils and an outlook that was not too encouraging Debts were finally pa1d and a three story building was erected the building had dormitory space for chrldren who l1ved outside the township There were 500 volumes in the library The first graduating class was made up of twelve students In summary one can see how avid an interest in educatlon was taken by the parents and teachers of this area But 1n the light of later develop ments 1t can be said truthfully that this was only the beginning' ig5f' ?ni4 Aflll 1 , 1 . 1 1 - , - 1 1 1 . , . , . 1 1 1 . - 1 1 1 1 1 1 . 1 , . 1 1 1 1 u I - : . . . , 1 . . . 11 - - 11 , . ' 1 its CQ 1 25711121 If 1 A zflgfg F., vt? 1 .f ' 'M V - 2 , X We Ca la ' H ' 1' v. 6