Read School - Coventry, RI
Posted by: nomadwillie
N 41° 42.209 W 071° 35.836
19T E 283896 N 4620114
Built c. 1831, it is one of the oldest, and the best-preserved, of Coventry's 19th-century schoolhouses. Today it is owned by the town and leased to the Coventry Historical Society.
Waymark Code: WM12VXD
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 07/22/2020
Views: 1
The Read Schoolhouse (c. 1831) is significant for its ability to document more than a century of public elementary education in Coventry. It is the least altered of the seven nineteenth-century schoolhouses which survive in the town and is typical of the group in scale and design.
Read School had seen a continuing decline in attendance down to eight in 1903, which was lower than at any other time since the mid-1880s and in June, 1905, it was closed. It was re-opened, possibly as early as 1909, certainly by 1912, when a complaint was made "against one Marchaud Siembab for disturbing Read School and assaulting the teacher."
In 1951, Read Schoolhouse was at last made obsolete. Last open for classes in the spring of that year, the schoolhouse was used for storage by the School Department until 1973. Since that time it has been leased from the town by the Coventry Historical Society, who have restored the building and currently conduct tours and hold meetings there.
Source: (
visit link)