Sayville High School - Senior Yearbook (Sayville, NY)

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iliiiiEQ ii -,K ig ig EEEEFKEKFi LAST SEPTEMBER a dream came true. The new Greene Avenue Elementary School, a splendid modern building, was completed for the use of the children of Sayville. To me it seemed un- believably perfect in every respect. As I thought of the old Grammar School building I had attended, just a few feet away, my admiration became mingled with a bit of regret that the coming of the new must mean the passing of the old. No longer, I realized. would the school bell in the old tower warn straggling children that they must quicken their steps. No longer would the sagging, time-worn staircases creak wearily as eager students started their homeward rush. The rows of black hooks lining the varnished halls would never again overflow with many varieties of apparel. Probably other students in other days felt much the same regret as I when they saw the old school abandoned for one more modern. A little more than fifty years ago the Grammar School was new and modern, replacing an outgrown structure. For over one hundred years the citizens of Sayville have built schools and the children of Sayville have attended them. To find out more about these schools and their students, to revive pleasant memories of days gone by, I, with the help of other members of the staff, began to explore the history of Sayville Schools. From interviews with Sayville residents and from dusty old school records I have determined the facts which comprise the following history. -D. I. K. Sayv1lle's first school was a little log-cabin schoolhouse, standing approximately Where Hid- dink Street now intersects North Main Street. It was thoroughly rustic both inside and out since it was built of, and even furnished with, the rough logs of the trees which were cut down to make the clearing. According to David M. Ed- wards, in a sketch he wrote in the late I89O's, 'The seats for scholars were made of slabs standing on legs inserted in the round side of the slab, the flat side being up. The scholars' desks were sloping shelves attached to the side of the building and between the seats and the side of the room. An open fireplace on one side attempted to warm the room, but probably did not succeed too well, for David Edwards also reports that Honly three scholars were allowed to go to the fire to warm at a timeg if the fourth one was found there the last one would very likely be punished. The boys took turns chopping wood at the woodpile, kindling the tire in the morning and keeping it going all day, while the girls made 'themselves useful by sweeping the room and keeping things tidy. Around I82O Reuben Edwards donated the land on which the Sayville Firehouse now stands for school use, and the log-cabin school was moved 7 to the new site. After five years, in 1823, it yi 'ls converted into a residence, and moved again- this time, opposite the Nlill Pond. The W'hile Frame Schoolhouse Built in 1559 The new building erected in its place was a typical one-room little red schoolhouse, much roomier than the first one and heated by a large cast-iron stove instead of a fireplace. Strangely enough, the older pupils sat with their backs to the teacher, writing on shelves which extended