The Town of Middlefield Historical Association is hosting a 150th anniversary celebration of the District #1 Old Middlefield School this weekend.
According to a news release, the family-friendly event has grown to become a regional favorite each year in the summer months, bringing together a wide variety of performers, vendors and artisans. This year’s event is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday, July 13 at the schoolhouse, which is the historical association’s headquarters.
Activities are planned throughout the day and evening for people of all ages, including a non-denominational church service at 10:30 am. At 11:30 a.m., Jani Poppins will roll in with her “Scooby Doo” Mobile Bus. Children can dance their way through eco-friendly story-high bubbles to the beat of the music Jani creates. Also for the kids, BJ the Clown will be walking around making balloon animals.
For the adults, Pail Shop Vineyard will be on site for wine tasting and purchase. There will be live entertainment by the Grass Hoppers in the afternoon, along with the Good Day Mobile Café offering food for purchase. There also will be alumni recognitions of past students who attended the schoolhouse, as well as cake and cupcakes with Stewart’s Shops ice cream.
The upstairs museum will be open for visitors to learn more about the way of life in Middlefield throughout the years.
In the evening, Scattered Flurries Band will play starting at 7 p.m. after which Middlefield’s first professional fireworks will be displayed at dusk.
The schoolhouse, which was erected in 1875 in Middlefield, formerly known as Clarksville, was a thriving community and the district’s trustees thought the area needed a new school building.
On April 1, 1811, the appointed trustees bought a parcel of land from George Clarke of Springfield. Constructed on a rise of land on the east side of the Cherry Valley Creek, it is reported that the Galer Brothers walked from their farms on Galer Hill, now known as Roscoe Jones Road, to the site for 75 cents a day and erected the two-story frame building.
It featured a large front double door with two interior doors to enter each of the two first-floor classrooms separately. There were double hung 6-over-6 panel windows, wide projected eaves with Italianate brackets, a belfry, an attached single-story woodshed and an outhouse.
A fence was built to separate the adjacent sawmill property, the front doors were changed to have windows, and new toilets were installed inside part of the woodshed.
Additional windows were added for additional light. It was not until 1939 that the building was electrified, even though the rest of Middlefield hamlet had been electrified 10 years earlier. Finally, in 1950, a well was drilled to provide water.
Richard Vang provided the history of the schoolhouse, the release stated.
For more information and directions to the school house, visit www.middlefieldhistorical.org.