Schools in East Lyme and Salem: Now and Then

School certainly looks different for everyone right now, but it has always been such a big part of our lives - I love learning, I value education, and I want to be a teacher someday. So, Maggie and I are happy to be starting off our blog with two entries about the history of school! We are eager to compare our current learning environments, especially amidst the pandemic, with those of the past. First, we’ll look at the growth of the school buildings of East Lyme and Salem. Next week, we’ll explore the broader themes of education in the past and present.

I’ll be covering East Lyme since I am a resident here, and Maggie will cover Salem schools’ growth since she lives there.

Let’s start off with where we are now. In the East Lyme School District, there are currently 5 public schools: Flanders Elementary, Lillie B. Haynes Elementary, Niantic Center Elementary, East Lyme Middle School, and East Lyme High School.

In the late 1600s and early 1700s, children of East Lyme attended a school in the larger town of Lyme. This is because East Lyme was part of Lyme — we had not yet separated from them. The most significant schoolhouse from this time was the Little Boston Schoolhouse: a small, red schoolhouse named after the Boston Grammar School in Massachusetts.

East Lyme eventually became its own town, and the population grew. Transportation to school, however, did not grow alongside the population. Children still had to walk to school, so really, there had to be a school within walking distance of each neighborhood. By 1800, there were 9 separate schools, all operating under separate district managements: Niantic Hill, Flanders Village, Little Boston, Niantic, Black Point, Mack’s Mill, Toad Rock, Head of the River, and Walnut Hill.

With so many different districts, however, quality of education and public interest in improving them was low. Thus, in 1914, consolidation began when the Flanders Consolidated School closed Niantic Hill, Head of the River, and the old Flanders School. The brick building built for Flanders Consolidated School is now the School Administration Building, right next to the current Flanders School. In 1883, the Niantic Consolidated School was also built behind the Police Station, closing the Little Boston and Black Point Schools. Toad Rock was sold in 1905, and Walnut Hill was closed in 1936 when students gained transportation to Flanders. In 1928, the Niantic Center School was built to accommodate more kids.

The post World War II baby boom caused a need for more schools. Around 1955, the Smith Harris House (now known as Brookside Farm) was purchased by the town, allowing for the land to build East Lyme Middle School, and then Lillie B. Haynes in 1961.

As for the high school, East Lyme had only had a 2 year high school up until 1905, when it closed and students attended private New London high schools if they could. East Lyme’s own high school didn’t open until 1967.

Additions have been made to all the schools throughout the years, but essentially, this is how we ended up with the East Lyme schools we attend now.

Hello everyone, my name is Maggie. I have been a resident of Salem, CT for my entire life. For this part of entry, I will be talking with you about the history of Salem, its various schools, and how it all came to be about.

Salem, CT was originally fully inhabited by the Mohegan people, but in 1664 the first European settlement in what was then known as Montville, was established. In the early eighteenth century there was an influx of settlements. Because religion was such a large asset to their lives and because the distance between the settlements was rather large the people petitioned for a new parish; it was successful.They named Salem after Colonel Samuel Browne because he owned the most land. Oddly enough he was from Salem, Massachusetts.

In 1819 Salem was established as a town. Due to its harsh farmland the population was rather slim; that is until the establishment known as Music Vale was created.

Music Vale was founded in the mid-19th century by Orramel Whittlesey; the exact date is not known. It was heavily debated upon, sometime between 1835 to 1839. When it first opened it was an all girls school, and it became quite prestigious, as women from all over the world came to enroll. As time grew it became co-ed. The students not only were taught music education but were also taught farming.

When Music Vale first opened it had 80 students and was mainly run by the Whittlesey family. Their school day was much different than what we know now. The staff awoke at 5:00 a.m. This is when dusting pianos and vocal practice occurred; the main instruments of practice were organ, piano, and harp.

Students practiced for four hours a day and to make sure students were completing their studies monitors were installed in rooms. The focus subjects were harmony, notation, voice and performances of the instruments I listed above. The daily tuition was $1.50, this took care of the daily usage of room and board, instruction, and the use of instruments for practice.

This school was very popular, but when the Civil War began student numbers decreased rapidly, and Music Vale was only available to wealthy students who could pay the daily tuition. In 1868 Music Vale caught fire and was burned to the ground. It was rebuilt, but when Orramel Whittlesey passed away in 1876 the number of students rapidly declined. Shortly thereafter it burned to the ground once more and was never rebuilt. The only remains of the school are a barn and a historical marker.

Nevertheless, Music Vale was a unique school in our town’s history.The school that we now know as Salem’s one public school has a different backstory. Before its development, Salem had several schools; this was very common in New England communities. The Salem Elementary school many of us know today was known as a rather large schoolhouse in 1940. Many additions have been made to Salem School since its official opening in 1944. In today’s time, Salem School remains one of the most substantial and influential K-8 schools in all of Connecticut. The core subjects in elementary and middle school include: language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies or history. We have a co-op contract with East Lyme High School which joins us with one another from 9th to 12th grade. We have come a long way from our small town; we have changed and moved along innovating not only our school systems but our mindsets about education. However, what has not changed is our motivation to strive not for perfection but for progress in education: for today to be better than yesterday.

Ultimately, it is hard to imagine our schools being anywhere other than they are now. I know East Lyme High School students probably couldn’t imagine not being a walking distance to McDonalds. However, understanding the changes of our school buildings, locations, and districts helps us to realize the hard work and commitment that has gone into providing public education. From numerous small, one room brick or wooden buildings scattered throughout town to the large consolidated ones we see now, all have served as schools for students throughout time.