Walter Fogg. (Photo by Peter Currier)
WESTFIELD- The Westfield 350th Historical Lecture Series will feature Walter Fogg as a solo presenter Wednesday March 13th at the First Congregational Church at 6:30 when he will speak about the history of one-room school houses in Westfield.
Fogg was a co-presenter in last week’s lecture with Dr. Beth Ann Rothermel and Dr. Mara Dodge. Fogg touched upon the single room school houses in that lecture as well, but this week he will dive deeper into their history in Westfield. Many of the structures no longer exist, but some are still present in the city.
“This presentation will have a little different focus,” said Fogg, “It will be about many of the school houses where I have been able to identify their locations and if the structure is even still there.”
Many former school houses have been appropriated for other uses such as residences, business, or storage. One could drive by the building and never know what it once was. Fogg will feature pictures of the existing schools from their early days and today, side by side.
“Each of the school houses has an interesting story,” said Fogg, “My purpose of the presentation is to identify the school houses and tell each of their stories.”
Fogg noted one school house in Westfield in which an abolitionist gave a lecture in the early 1860s at the onset of the Civil War. Protestors were present, and a fight broke out, causing one person to be pushed into the building’s stove, causing the building to burn down. A new one was constructed in its place. That school house was located in the area of what is now Russellville Road, then called the farm district. After the area was split into several areas, the school was referred to as the West Farms Schoolhouse, and it still stands to this day under ownership by the city with many of the original supplies still inside. It is not currently open for public viewing.
A former one-room schoolhouse in Westfield. (Photo submitted)
“It’s going to make a really fine museum piece,” said Fogg.
Fogg first took interest in these school houses when he moved to the neighborhood of Liberty Manor just over a decade ago. As a way for him and his wife to introduce themselves to the rest of the area, they decided to make a float for their 4th of July parade. They decided to make a small replica of one of the nearby school houses and put it on the back of a flatbed trailer. Fogg won first prize for his float.
Shortly after the parade, Fogg was contacted and asked to be a volunteer presenter in the Westfield Public School system. His topic of choice was the one-room-schoolhouses that he had just learned a lot of information about. He was a presenter for 10 years.
