View source for 1994 Town of Knox Comprehensive Plan: Schools

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'''Schools''' 

Specific knowledge concerning the early schools in the Town, and the teachers and 
pup
ils who went to them, is fragmentary. It seems probable that the children who 
could be spared from necessary chores were assembled in one of the homes of an 
area, where they were taught by transient teachers. When a schoolmaster left, 
doubtless the lessons 
were suspended until another arrived. Many of those early 
teachers were clergymen or farmers; some had only a little more education than 
their older students. 

In 1789, the New York State legislature authorized that two lots in each township of 
the publi
c state land be set apart for gospel and school purposes. The Common 
School Act of 1812 authorized the establishment of common, or public schools. In 
Amasa Parker's 
Landmarks of Albany County
, it is reported that the Town of Berne 
(of which Knox was then 
a part) passed a resolution to raise $500 for the support of 
the common schools. Tenney and Howell's 
History of the County of Albany
, cites a 
report that one of those pioneer schools was located in Knoxville (the present 
Hamlet of Knox), and another stood 
in the vicinity of Township. 

The first buildings specifically erected for schools were crude structures of 
unpeeled logs, topped with a lean
-
to roof that was sealed against the weather with 
sheets of bark laid over pole rafters. The floor was packed dirt 
and the hard benches 
upon which the children sat were split 1ogs. A fieldstone fireplace stood at one end 
for warmth. Later, when the press of other work permitted, the dirt floor was 
covered with puncheons of white pine, and the bark roof was replaced w
ith shakes. 

The children in those schools ranged from six to sixteen years; they recited their 
lessons aloud and consequently the schools became known as "Blab Schools". 
Schoolmasters were paid by the parents according to the number of children they 
sent 
and the periods for which they sent them; payment consisted of whatever 
commodity the parents had on hand, such as deerskins, grain, or vegetables. 

As the Town of Knox grew, so did the schools, and the log "Blab Schools" gave 
way to small frame buildings
. In 1886, Knox had thirteen school districts, each of 
which elected its own trustee, clerk, and tax collector. The trustee was charged with 
the hiring of the teacher, supervision of the school, and providing for the supply and 
maintenance of the building 
and its equipment. By that time, the schools were 
supported by a local tax that varied according to the value of an individual's taxable 
property. 

Teachers were then paid thirty dollars per month and for that sum they were 
required not only to teach a wid
e variety of subjects to pupils of various ages and 
abilities within a single room, but also to clean the room, and to build and maintain 
fires in the wood
-
burning stove. 

Many senior citizens of Knox recall those one
-
room schools in rich detail: the 
drin
king water supply, carried in a pail from the well of a neighboring house, and 
the common dipper that hung above the pail; the immovable desks with the attached 
seats, especially if those seats were anchored too close to the stove; the heat of the 
room in 
the late spring and the incessant droning of innumerable flies, which came 
in freely through the open, unscreened windows; when winter winds rocked the 
building and drove the snow against the windows, how cold it was for all except the 
envied few who sat w
ithin the narrow radius of the stove. Those who did sit by the 
stove remember how their flesh slowly roasted on the side nearest the stove, while 
on the opposite side they froze. 

District No. 1 was located on what is now Rock Road. In 1932, the children w
ere 
transferred to the Berne
-
Knox Central School and the schoolhouse was sold; it was 
subsequently converted to a dwelling. 

The schoolhouse of District No. 2, located at the intersection of Route 146 and 
Witter Road, is presently owned by the Knox Volunte
er Fire Company and used as 
the Township firehouse. An old, handwritten ledger, containing 100 years of school 
records (1849
-
1949), states that no funds were voted for the school in 1850, and in 
October 1851, it was voted to change the site of the school 
to its present location. 
According to the ledger, District No. 9 was consolidated with District No. 2 in 
1866
-
67, and the combined district was designated as No. 2. 

Among the interesting items in the ledger is the first mention, in 1913, of a teacher's 
re
tirement fund and an entry of $3.58 for that fund. The first individual drinking 
cups were furnished in 1925, and during that year it is noted that older children of 
the district were sent to Altamont High School. Electric lights were installed in 
1935. Th
e minutes of 1946 record a decision to petition the Commissioner of 
Education to dissolve District No. 2, and to transfer the district to the Berne
-
Knox 
Central School System. The schoolhouse remained empty until it was purchased by 
the Knox Fire Company. 

District No. 3 was located at what is now the corner of Pleasant Valley Road and 
Taber Road. The district was annexed to the Berne
-
Knox Central School system in 
1932; the schoolhouse was moved to Township and was converted to a private 
dwelling. 

District 
No. 4 was located on Rt. 156. The district became a part of the Guilderland 
Central School system and the schoolhouse was used as a farm tenant house. 

District No. 5, at Ketcham Lane and Boys Club Lane, in the Thompsons Lake area, 
became part of the Bern
e
-
Knox Central School system in 1951; for ten years, 1940
-
50, the children of the district were driven to the Altamont School. The 
schoolhouse was kept in its original state until 1971, when it was converted into a 
dwelling. 

The schoolhouse of District N
o. 6 was located in the center of the Hamlet of Knox. 
It was owned by the Knox Volunteer Fire Company and used as their firehouse from 
1950 until 1988, when the building was replaced. The district was centralized into 
the Berne
-
Knox School system in 1931, 
although the actual transfer was not 
accomplished until 1933. 

The District No. 7 schoolhouse was located on the Knox
-
Gallupville Road; it is now 
used as a farm building. 

The schoolhouse of District No. 8, located at the intersection of Beebee and Middle 
Roads, was torn down and rebuilt in 1910. It was subsequently converted into a 
dwelling. 

District No. 9 was combined with District No. 2 in 1866 since, as reported by 
Tenney and Howell, "District No. 9 is a joint district most of which lies within the 
t
own of Wright, Schoharie County, only 2 children of school age living in the 
portion lying in Knox and the schoolhouse being located in Wright." 

The schoolhouse of District No. 10 is located on the Bozenkill Road on a site 
probably donated to the district 
by the Snyder family. The Snyder School, as it was 
known, remains in its original condition except for the addition of double doors. 

District No. 11 was located on the Knox
-
Delanson Road, near the intersection of 
West Wind Road. In 1930, high school 
students of the district were sent to 
Delanson Union Free School, now part of the Duanesburg Central School System. 
The school was bought and converted into a dwelling. 

The school of District No. 12 was known as the Van Benschoten School because the 
sit
e, located on Quay Road near the junction with Bell Road, was donated by John 
Van Benschoten. After the district was incorporated into the Berne
-
Knox School 
system, the schoolhouse was moved to the Altamont Fairgrounds as an example of 
the one
-
room school. 
�
The building of District No. 13 was originally located on the old Zimmer farm but 
was moved to the Bradt farm to provide a more central location, where it still 
stands. In 1949 the school could no longer meet the expenses of a teacher's salary 
and bus t
ransportation and the district was consolidated with the Berne
-
Knox 
system. 

District No. 14 was taken into the Town of Wright school system and was known as 
the Shingle Town School. School No. 15 was located at West Berne. 

The Berne
-
Knox School system 
was established in 1932, and had a junior high 
school; in 1933 it was expanded to include grades 9 through 12. It included all of 
the districts of Knox excepting 4, 
10 and 14. 

Knoxville Academy 

Knoxville Academy was organized under the general laws of 
the State of New York 
for the establishment of academies around 1820
-
30. It was incorporated by the New 
York State Legislature in 1837, and admitted by the Regents in 1842. It was one of 
the finest educational facilities in Albany County. Tenney and Howel
l report that it 
"once stood high among similar educational establishments." The Academy 
prepared its students for entrance to college, and also qualified them to enter 
teaching or to go into business. Students came to the Academy not only from 
Albany, Sch
enectady, and the surrounding areas, but also from abroad. 

Ray Mowers, in the Albany Evening News of October 15, 1936, reported that " . . . 
in 1826 the Masonic brethren of the Helderbergs erected a temple in Knox hamlet 
which later became the celebrated 
Knox Academy." He also mentions that Knox 
had the oldest Masonic Chapter, and that after the temple became the Knoxville 
Academy, the chapter went to East Berne and then to Berne. 

Eventually, following the establishment of the State Normal Schools
, the Knoxville 
Academy went into a decline. For a time, an attempt was made to continue the 
Academy as a private school, but this did not succeed. The Academy was in session 
during the years 1840 through 1869. The building served as a public school for 
a 
number of years after the Academy closed down. Later it was converted into three 
separate apartments and today it is a one
-
family home(9).