“School unquestionably marks an important milestone in the progress of not only the educational advantages afforded our children, but is at the same time bringing into existence an organized protection for both their moral character and physical force.”
1909 Report by Hartland School Superintending Committee Members Allen R. Burton, Daniel A. Packard & George M. Lancey
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Pleasant Street School – 1923
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It is safe to presume Hartland’s early settlers established some form of educational system for their children from 1802 through 1820. We have not yet found documentation to confirm specific locations before Hartland officially became a town in 1820 but these early settlers undoubtedly built some type of dedicated schoolhouses within the major population settlement regions of North Hartland, West Hartland and the Village.
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A detailed history of the elementary grade schools is available on the link below. This report uses applicable excerpts relating to the Hartland Common Schools, so called, for Primary through Grade 8, included in Hartland Town Reports from our archives to provide a historical glimpse into the workings of the school system via individual reports presented annually by the School Committee, Superintendents and School Physicians. Proposed school budgets, expenditures and Town Meeting Articles provide further insight into the establishment, repair and/or end of various schoolhouses located throughout Hartland. As more information is discovered, we’ll update this document. (Updated 9/1/2121)
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A History of Hartland Common Schools
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By 1828, there were 8 School Districts designated by a district number within Hartland’s existing boundaries at the time. Over the next few decades, population shifts and town line boundary changes brought several additions, deletions or land area rearrangements of the school districts and as many as 14 separate school districts existed at one time. The schools below are mentioned by name within post-1900 Town Reports over the decades. Several others are also noted but unnamed on the 1860, 1883 & 1900 Maps of Hartland designated only as “S.H.”
Some of the schoolhouses below which had previously been located within Hartland’s original land boundaries were later shared with neighboring towns to which the land had been annexed to including Athens (Corson’s Corner School), Canaan (Slab City School) and Palmyra (Unknown Name). Tuition was paid to those towns for Hartland based pupils to attend school there due to their proximity of the schoolhouse and a lack of viable and consistent means of transportation to another Hartland School District.
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North Hartland
- Stafford School: Likely built in the 1820s, closed by 1900 and replaced by the Webber School
- Webber School: Built in 1905 on the site of the Stafford School, closed 1931
- Starbird School: Near Starbird Pond, aka North Hartland School, closed 1917
- Burrill School: On the former Burrill Road, closed by 1900
- Corson’s Corner School: Near Black Stream, aka Coston’s Corner School, later became part of Athen Schools, closed 1933
West Hartland
- Fuller’s Corner School: Last of all the rural schools to close in 1942
- Slab City School: West of Morrill Pond, later became part of Canaan Schools
- Church’s Corner School: South of Morrill Pond, closed by 1900
- Palmyra School: Unknown school name, located near Pittsfield Avenue, closed by 1900
- Rand School: North of Morrill Pond, closed 1917
- Huff Hill School: Closed 1917
- Bean’s Corner School: Later became part of Pittsfield Schools, closed 1931
Hartland Village
- Ireland School: Original schoolhouse on Pleasant Street located at the future town swimming pool lot, closed 1916
- Pleasant Street School: Replaced Ireland School, aka Athens Street School, 1916-1950, sold to American Legion Post 141
- Vestry School Rooms: At the Methodist Church, temporary use for Common School Pupils from 1937-1940
- Randlett Block School Rooms: Hartland Hardware Store, temporary use for Common School Pupils from 1942-1950
- Hartland Consolidated School: Built in 1950 centralizing all Hartland Common School Pupils until 1968
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Known Hartland Schoolhouse Locations – 1883 Map
Note: Only the Ireland School existed in 1883 with the Pleasant Street School being built in 1916.
The Webber School was built in 1905 replacing the original Stafford School.
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Fullers Corner School was likely one of the first schools to be established and was the last of the rural schools to close in 1942.
Fullers Corner School Brochure 1902-1903
(Courtesy of Virginia Salisbury Tucker)
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Hartland Academy also served as home for various grades of Common School Pupils over the decades who had classes on the Bottom Floor.
Hartland Common School Students attending classes held at Hartland Academy – 1916
(Photo courtesy of Donna Perkins & Cheryl Simpson)
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The names of the students above were written on the back of the photo. Many of them are noted with the Hartland Academy Class of 1926.
Back of 1916 Photo
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Pleasant Street School – Unknown Year
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Pleasant Street School 3rd & 4th Grade – c1930
1st Row (L-R): 1) Maynard Moore 2) Teddy Carr 3) Philip Nutting 4) Frederick Lander 5) Charlie Inman
6) Unknown 7) Wendell Marr 8) Robert Wade 9) Miles O’Reilley 10) Myron Chipman
2nd Row: 1) Unknown 2) Madeline Cook 3) Elizabeth Wheeler 4) Robert Getchell 5) Arthur Smith 6) Robert Perkins
7) Kenneth Baird 8) Russell Dunlap 9) Norman McCormack 10) James Moore 11) Eugene Reopelle
3rd Row: 1) Arla Fritz 2) Ardis Moulton 3) Miriam Steeves 4) Leila Merrow 5) Marian Wyman 6) Evelyn Jameison
7) Arlene Hollister 8) Unknown 9) Freda Stanhope 10) Wanita Hunt 11) Phyllis Carr
4th Row: 1) Hilda Emery 2) Anita Baird 3) Barbara Frost 4) Charlotte Philbrick 5) Eleanor Libby
6) Nettie Seekins 7) Theda Stanhope 8) Norma Emery 9) Irvin Stedman
5th Row: 1) Lona Clark 2) Unknown 3) Unknown 4) Unknown 5) Roland Cook 6) Ella B. Getchell; Teacher
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Pleasant Street School 2nd & 3rd Grade – c1935
1st Row (L-R): 1) Charlotte Stanhope 2) Douglas Austin 3) Glenice Withee 4) Alvira Graves 5) Virginia Inman 6) Wayne Varnum
7) Charlene Stedman 8) Floyd Austin 9) Effie Holt 10) Elwood Gray 11) Myrtle Lovely 12) Ivan Pearson, Jr 13) Estelle Randlett
2nd Row: 1) Ann Duncan 2) George Merrow 3) Gladys Deering 4) Buddy Gardner 5) Shirley Cooke 6) Donald Salisbury
7) Helen Moore 8) Leslie Sherburne 9) Virginia Wheeler 10) Donald Nichols 11) Delma Smith 12) Joyce Emery
3rd Row: 1) Dennis Walker 2) Hazel Devereaux 3) Herbert Groves 4) Donald Adams 5) Jackie Hogan 6) William Raymond 7) Annie Wheeler
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A group of unknown students gather for a photo at the Pleasant Street School about 1937 with Baxter Canning seen in the background.
Pleasant Street School – c1937
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Several of the students from the 1935 Pleasant Street School photo are seen as 5th & 6th Graders attending classes held at Hartland Academy.
Hartland Common School Students attending classes held at Hartland Academy – 1938
1st Row (L-R): 1) Alan Rowe 2) Floyd Austin 3) Estelle Randlett 4) Virginia Wheeler 5) George Merrow 6) James E. Moore
7) Mahlon Gray 8) Shirley Stedman 9) Alton Withee 10) Geraldine Sawyer 11) Rae Jean Randlett
2nd Row: 1) Harlan Emery 2) Elwood Gray 3) Jeanette Stanhope 4) Ruth Pearson 5) Arlene Sands
6) Arlene McPherson 7) Charles Sherburne 8) Edwin Jordan 9) John E. Moore
3rd Row: 1) Clayton Harrington 2) Ivan Pearson, Jr 3) Charles Bell 4) Douglas Austin 5) Donald Nichols 6) Myrtle Lovely
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Students at Fullers Corner School in West Hartland in 1940.
Fullers Corner School – West Hartland – 1940
(Courtesy of Wendell Bubar)
1st Row: Raymond Robinson | Edith Southard | Gladys Robinson
2nd Row: Gerald Robinson | Iola Robinson | Olin Salisbury Jr | Norman Levasseur
3rd Row: Virginia Salisbury | Robert Mason | Marjorie McDougal | Luther McDougal
4th Row: Alta Hillman | Joyce Pelkie | Floyd Robinson | Kenneth Pelkie | Ernest McDougal Jr
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In 1942, the last of the rural schoolhouses was closed at Fullers Corner. Some of the students from West Hartland and North Hartland joined their classmates in the Village at the Pleasant Street School. Others attended school in make shift classrooms on the 2nd floor of the Hartland Hardware Store on Main Street while the town worked on a long term solution for its overcrowded conditions and lack of adequate space.
Mill Street side entrance used by students attending classes on the 2nd Floor of the Hartland Hardware Store
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In 1949, the citizens of Hartland voted to build a new schoolhouse. Construction began on the new building on Elm Street in April of 1950 centralizing all Hartland Common School students from Primary to Grade 8 into one building later that Fall. The 7 acre lot it was built on was purchased from the Estate of the late Dr. Jennie Fuller which had formerly been owned by her father James Fuller, Jr.
Construction of the new Hartland Consolidated School – 1950
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The new school would continue as the home of Primary thru Grade 8 students until the end of the 1967-1968 school year.
Hartland Consolidated School – Elm Street
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Hartland Consolidated School Diploma – June 7, 1955
(Courtesy of Donald J. McDougal)
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As noted by Hartland School Superintendent Harold E. Carson in his 1954 report, “Three new pieces of playground equipment, an outside basketball court and an ice skating area are worthy of your attention. The Hartland School District Committee and Hartland P. T. A. deserve much credit for this development.”
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The items above and other new equipment added to the school’s playground provided recess entertainment for many years.
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Hartland Consolidated School Playground
(Courtesy of Gerald Morgan)
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8th Grade Graduation from the Hartland Consolidated School was a celebrated event and was marked by a complete graduation ceremony.
Hartland Consolidated School – 8th Grade Graduation Program – 1965
(Courtesy of Gerald Morgan)
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Many of these students below would become part of the 1st Graduating Class of 1969 of Nokomis Regional High.
Hartland Consolidated School – 8th Grade Graduation – 1965
(Courtesy of Maggie Smith)
1st Row (L-R): Mary Turcotte | Sharon Stedman | Jayne Lary | Linda Curtis
Gerald Morgan | David Gervais | Donald Gervais
2nd Row: Wanda Lindsey | Bruce Taylor | Corinne Waldron | Dana Smith | Margaret Johnson
Ereline Mitchell | Scott Nutter | Carrie Nichols | Philip Ripton
3rd Row: Robert Merrow | Wayne Hewins | Dennis Stafford | Daniel Gilbert
Timothy Munn | Michael Sherburne | Ryan McDougal
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Hartland students in the Class of 1972 would become the first class not to attend Hartland Academy as high school students. They graduated from Hartland Consolidated School as 8th Graders in Spring of 1968 then attended Nokomis Regional High as 9th Graders in Fall of 1968 becoming part of the first class to attend Nokomis for 4 years.
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Following the creation of Maine School Administrative District #48 on November 16, 1965 and the subsequent opening of the new Nokomis Regional High School in the Fall of 1968, the former Hartland Academy building became Hartland Junior High School for Grade 7 and Grade 8 for Hartland, St Albans & Palmyra students with Primary through Grade 6 remaining at the Hartland Consolidated School.
Hartland Junior High School continued serving local communities until it closed in 2002 to make way for the new Somerset Valley Middle School in Hartland which included Grades 5 through 8 for Hartland, St. Albans & Palmyra students beginning in the fall of 2002. Primary through Grade 4 remained at the Hartland Consolidated School.
Hartland Consolidated School closed its doors as an educational facility in 2017 following the building of a new Nokomis Regional High School/Middle School complex in Newport which opened in the fall of 2019 serving Grade 5 through Grade 12.
Students from Hartland Consolidated School, St. Albans Elementary School and Palmyra Elementary School in Primary through Grade 4 transferred to the former Somerset Valley Middle School building which was renamed Somerset Elementary School in 2019.
Former Hartland Consolidated School – Elm Street – 2019
(Courtesy of Will Bunker Photography)
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In 2021, the original Hartland Consolidated School building built in 1950 was razed making way for a new Senior Housing Complex.
Hartland Senior Housing Complex under construction – August 2021
(Photo by Bruce Fowler)