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Westside News Established 1953
Serving Suburban News North and South edition areas
Serving the communities of Spencerport-Ogden, Churchville-Riga, North Chili, Hilton-Parma
August 29, 2021
Issue No. 35
westsidenewsny.com
Reminiscence of attending Parma Center District #1 two-room school Note from Parma Hilton Historian David Crumb: Recently, I was presented with a memoir by Priscilla Tyner Beeman, a member of the Parma Hilton Historical Society, who gave a wonderful review of what it was like to attend a small district school back in the 1940s. We felt it worthy of publication for teachers, young students, and the general public to have a glimpse of what that educational experience was like. Today there are very few people who can recall going to a small one or two-room district school. Quite a few of Parma’s district schools still stand and now serve as residences. Parma Center District #1 is an excellent example and is located just west of Route 259 on Parma Center Road. It was the first school in the North Parma District. The Hilton Central School system was centralized in 1949, and by 1952 all the small schools were closed. If any reader has a Parma or Hilton memory or recollection that they would like to share that pertains to the history of the area, please send them to the Parma Hilton Historian at 59 Henry Street, Hilton, NY 14468 or e-mail historian@hiltonny.org.
Recollections of a country school by Priscilla Tyner Beeman The first six years of my formal education were spent in a small, quaint country school. The school was located directly across from our home, and thus it had a strong influence on my life, not only mentally but physically. I can remember begging my mother to let me start first grade when I was four. But impatient little children, such as myself, had to wait until the ripe old age of five before entering first grade. The “little room,” as it was called, was in the back of the building. It was the original oneroom school. Then around 1915, the “big room” was added on the front. As I remember, the “little room” was larger than the “big room,” but it was designated the “little room” because it housed the first three grades. The first day of school finally arrived, and all I can remember now is a great eagerness to learn. We used “drills” and repetition in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Mrs. Hall was my teacher for grades one, two, and three. She was a dedicated person in every sense of the word. My class was one of the largest in the entire six grades: five girls and two boys. As primary grade children, we
Parma Center District #1 class photo from May 1948. Shown (l-r) are: back row – Paul Hermance, Edward Stevens, Fred Tyrell, Don Hermance, unidentified, Peggy Balough, Audrey DeRosia, Jean Radford, Shirley Blodgett, Noreen MacKenzie; center row – Miss Schultz, Jeannie MacKenzie, Pauline Morris, Roger Decker, Mrs. Fowler, Dick Miller, James Speer, Dorothy Kanous; front row – Dixie Miller, Marian DeRosia, Patsy St. George, Gladys Stevens, John Miller, Jerry LaDue, Tom Coyle, Priscilla Tyner. Photo from the Parma Town Historian’s collection were permitted to use the jungle gym and swings more often than the older children. The last day of school every year was celebrated with a picnic, a family affair in our small community of two hundred people. The move to the “big room” in fourth grade signified the entrance into the grown-up world. Then, one advantage of a small country school dawned upon me. The teacher called one grade to the front seats for its lesson and recitations. If there was a class before the teacher, she sent the
The exterior of Parma Center School District #1 hasn’t changed much over the years, but the building is now a private residence. Historical photo on left from the Parma Town Historian’s collection. Current photo by David Crumb.
other pupils to their seats to read or study. Being a fast reader, I could finish my work early and listen to what was going on in the front of the room. Many little “gems” of information were garnered this way. We had spelling bees and social studies quizzes where one team would try to win over members of the other team by giving the right answers. Fall meant nature hikes to the nearby woods to collect leaves and dried weeds. One teacher had to manage her own three grades, about seventeen children. The boys had to “cut up,” of course, and wander off or swing from branches. What endurance and patience those teachers had…to take a group of lively, spirited children to the vast woods! Of course, the older boys regaled us with tales of marauding bears and hunters about with their guns. We never saw either one. Winter was a really fun time at school. We had from noon to one o’clock for lunch, and almost everyone went home, except two or three children who lived over a mile away. My mother was always home, waiting for me. The best days were when I opened the front door, and the smell of hot, homemade onion and potato soup greeted my nostrils. My friends and I would rush through lunch and go sliding on our favorite hill, a short ways away. We timed it to get back to school a few minutes before one o’clock. By the time we removed our leggings, mittens, and scarves and hung them on the coat hooks in the large dark-paneled hall, it was a quarter past one. It took us half an hour to warm up and thaw out our frozen fingers so that we could write.
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