Union School’s early buildings and school life

History of West Haven, Connecticut (1940)
PDF page 177
Source: https://archive.org/download/historyofwesthav00unse/historyofwesthav00unse.pdf#page=177

EDUCATION 
First mention of a schoolhouse in West Haven is contained in the records 
of the Ecclesiastical Society of the First Congregational Church. In 1742. 
money was raised by the sale of town lands, and it was voted that the amount 
of 328 pounds, 5 shillings, 10 pence be approved for the year for the support of 
the school “until the end of time, unless the government ordered to the contrary”. 
According to the Jurisdiction Records of 1661, a schoolmaster of the period 
was paid a total of 60 pounds per annum, the majority of these payments being 
made as follows: 30 bushels of wheat, 2 barrels of pork, 2 barrels of beef, 40 
bushels of Indian corn, 30 bushels of pease, 2 firkins of butter, 1 (X) pounds of 
ilax, and 30 bushels of general foods. 
As the population of the village increased, additional school facilities were 
needed. In 1805, the Southern District urged the erection of a new school- 
house on the Green, but it was “voated” not to build the proposed school on 
this location. That vote was evidently reconsidered, and the building was auth¬ 
orized, “in any place around the Green within forty feet of the line of the 
squair”. Erected in that same year, the building was still standing on the Green 
in 1857 but was not in use after 1849, when the classes were consolidated with 
those of the Union Avenue School. 
Union School 
For many years prior to 1860, Union School, a two-room wooden structure 
with a graceful belfry and bell, and a noisy chain water pump, stood on the 
plot of land at Union Avenue and Center Stret, where the present brick Union 
School now stands. During the 1880’s, three wooden schools successively stood 
on this site. English, Latin, astronomy, and algebra were among the subjects 
taught; all materials, including text books, were furnished by the students. 
Slates were used instead of paper and pencil. 
For several decades after 1860, summer as well as winter terms were held. 
In 1891, the salary of a teacher, Dealer M. Smith, is recorded as $76 for a 
summer term. The cost of operating Union School for that entire year 
was $392.60. 
Walden sE School 
Another link in West Haven’s early system of education was the little 
Waldense School, at Morgan Lane and Benham Hill, established in the Western 
District in 1829. This typical country school was at first supported by a dozen 
families, each household in turn sharing the responsibility of boarding the 
teacher. Two instructors were annually employed, a female instructor for a 
period of five months, starting with the first of May, and a male teacher for 
four months, starting after Thanksgiving.