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Posted June 8, 2010
The Tie That Binds...
The Fairview School District, Celebrating 200 Years
This year's Summer Exhibit at the Sturgeon House is all about the Fairview School District and how it developed. Classes were offered before there was an appropirate building... in a tavern, in a barn, and probably in log cabins. As settlers came they wanted their children to be able to read and write, and do their numbers!
According to the Warner Beers History of Erie County, the first frame building in western Erie County to be built for use as a school was in Fairview Township in 1810... 200 years ago! And, it would seem the district has been building ever since. Building structures as well as programs for their children.
As more settlers came
and the largest population center incorporated as a borough, two school
boards formed. The township board 
managed the
township one-room schools and the borough school board managed what
eventually was constructed as "the Union School." It was a large
academy, two floors, with older students on the second floor and the
primary grades on the first floor. It was located where the post
office is today. The Union School was constructed in 1866 and burned down
in 1891. It was rebuilt with the same design soon afterwards.
Shortly after the turn of the century it began offering a graded system
for the older students and by 1910 offered four years of "high
school." Again, according to the Warner Beers history, it was
the first school in the county to do so. In time it became
known as both the Fairview School and the Fairview High School. (See
photo on right.)
Meanwhile, the township schools numbered 12. Eventually some of the frame buildings were replaced by brick structures. The first (1878) was on Avonia Road, at about Route 5. It had two rooms, with the younger students in the back room. Next was the Manchester School (1897) at Route 5 and Dutch Road. It had a basement and recess was held there in inclement weather. The Swanville School (1900) was next at Route 20 and Manchester Road. And finally, South High (1905) was built to house older township children on the second floor and younger children from that area on the first floor. It is located at Route 98 and Tannery Road. These four brick buildings are still standing as are six of the old one-room township frame buildings. It is interesting to note how many different uses have been made of these buildings.
The township and borough school boards worked together in the late 1920s to build a joint high school on Chestnut Street. Once opened in 1928, all the high school students throughout the township attended there. The lower level children continued to attend their neighborhood schools or - in the borough - the Union School.
Also, once the new high school opened, the children living in the B'nai B'rith Home for Children just west of the borough on Route 20 (now the site of Teezer's) attended school in Fairview. Until that time they had taken a bus to Girard and attended the Battles School there.
After World War II many changes were made in public education. Pennsylvania wanted larger districts and consolidated schools, all leading to better education. A 12-room elementary wing was added to the school on Chestnut Street in the early 1950s and at that time all the other township buildings were closed. Still, there was considerable overcrowding. In 1958, due to the growing residential areas in the township, a new Manchester Elementary School was built on Route 5. It housed all the elementary children living north of the railroad tracks. The wing on the Chestnut Street building housed all those living south of the tracks. The Union School continued in use for extra-curricular programs - music, for example.
With more subdivisions being built in the township, more buildings were needed. This led to the new junior-senior high school (1963) on Avonia Road being built just south of the borough (now the Fairview Middle School). When that building opened the old Union School was closed and eventually torn down to make way for a new post office. The school on Chestnut Street then was consigned entirely to elementary children. And in 1973 another new high school was built. It remains in use; Chestnut Elementary was closed and today is a senior living center, and a new elementary school was built on the campus along Avonia Road in 1996.
The school district experienced some upheaval in the late 1960s with the possibility of merging with the Girard School District as mandated by the state, and the late 1970s with an extensive teachers' strike.
Besides the changing buildings, programs and content of subject matter changed as well. In the mid 1900s after-school activities included Hunting Clubs and Future Homemakers of America Clubs. Today the clubs are for computers and languages. History and geography are now included in an extensive subject called Social Studies. Today's high school students attend classes that are longer, which allows them to complete those subjects in one semester. Also, juniors and seniors have an opportunity to take courses that earn them college credit.
Obviously, today's "settlers" in Fairview Township continue to be concerned about the education of their children.
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Currently there is an extensive exhibit at the Sturgeon House about the school district and its development. The exhibit includes many, many photos, memorabilia, books, and more. For a comprehensive look at "The Tie That Binds," be sure to visit the exhibit this summer, any Sunday (May 30 - August 15, excluding July 4), from 1 to 4 p.m.
Those parents with 4th graders are urged to remember their "passports" and have them stamped as part of the county-wide program sponsored by Erie Yesterday!