Millsboro one-room school's restoration shows a different era in education

A relic of a time when boys and girls were not allowed to sit together in school will be open to the public later this month.

Godwin's School, a one-room schoolhouse closed in 1936, has been the focus of an extended restoration effort by the Millsboro Historical Society since 1988. The results of that labor will be on display Sept. 30.

The society's president, Margaret Mitchell, a semi-retired Indian River School District teacher, has a personal stake in the decades of restoration efforts — her mother was a student at Godwin's from 1911 to 1920.

"It's a historical place that we don't want to lose sight of," Mitchell said. "It's a memorial to the teachers and really to the community, so this will not be forgotten."

The white building with green trim has been restored to its original appearance, including authentic period blackboard, a cast iron stove and school bell, kerosene lanterns, desks and chairs and textbooks.

Plaques have been added to honor the school's history and the students and teachers who attended. The school even has an outhouse in back that is still being restored.

The school now has electricity, but it never had running water. A hand pump and sink in the vestibule have also been restored.

"The Godwin School represents a very, very important chapter in both Delaware's and America's educational history," said Richard B. Carter, chair of the Delaware Heritage Commission.

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Built in a time far different from today, Godwin's was the result of a petition from Millsboro farmers whose children had no school to attend.

At the time, school districts were created in response to demand.

In March 1896, the state school board sent a recommendation to the Sussex County Levy Court that a new school district be created on the outskirts of Millsboro.

They attached a petition from 15 landowners attesting that the area had more than the 35 students required for a school district.

"At that time, there were something like 420 individual school districts in the state of Delaware. Every little place — and the Godwin School is a typical example — had its own local school district with its own local school board," Carter said.

District #190 was created in June 1896.

Land was donated by local farmer/businessman Jacob Reese Godwin, and the building was named after him.

Godwin's is an example of a type of school that developed following the Civil War with a standardized appearance. Previous schools used existing buildings or had random designs, said Russ McCabe, director emeritus of the Delaware Public Archives.

Schools like this offered education through eighth grade and were common across Delmarva at the time.

A different era

In Godwin's first decades, girls and boys were seated apart from each other and had separate entrances to the classroom. Discipline could be strict for infractions such as fighting, gambling, lying or arriving with dirty hands.

One person — a neighbor, student, or the teacher — would arrive an hour before classes to shovel coal, light the stove and lanterns, and draw water for washing faces and hands.

The sole teacher would teach different subjects to different grades.

For many rural dwellers, that was all the formal education they would get, although by 1936 most larger towns had high schools for students who lived close enough to walk.

Mitchell's mother, Elsie Conaway Shockley, had to walk three miles each way in all but the worst weather. She wasn't allowed by her father to continue her education after the eighth grade, Mitchell said.

The era of the one-room school ended when Gov. John G. Townsend and Pierre S. DuPont began modernizing the education system and consolidating the schools in the 1920s, Carter said.

"The kids were deprived of a lot of the educational advantages they would get from going to a larger high school," Carter said.

Nevertheless, some of these schools provided excellent education despite their financial disadvantages, Carter said. He cited Townsend, who also founded Townsend Inc. and later served in the U.S. Senate, among those who excelled after a one-room school education.

Godwin's School remained in operation until District #190 merged with Millsboro School #23 in 1936.

Ownership of the land reverted to Godwin's heirs, the White family, who dismantled the school room and the vestibule and used the building as a corn crib. More recently it stood empty and fell into disrepair.

Mitchell, Carter, Linda and Bill Pusey and Elsie Mitchell formed the Millsboro Historical Society in 1987 to restore the school. They obtained state and local grants to get the project started.

The Whites granted them a free 99-year lease of the property.

Members of various Sussex County Councils helped them get additional funding.

"We are fortunate that caring persons have stepped forward to preserve this building, which stands today as a true historic treasure," McCabe said.

A ceremony marking completion of major restoration on Sept. 11, 1999, was attended by then-Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and other state and local officials.

Godwin's School is open by appointment only. The society is hoping the open house will get more people coming and asking questions about a way of life that is now only a memory.

"Hopefully we can do this yearly," Mitchell said. "We're hoping we'll get a good turnout."

If you go

Godwin's School will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 30. Members of the Millsboro Historical Society will be present to answer questions and talk about the school's history.

Limited edition prints and notecards depicting the school will be on sale to support further restoration efforts.

The school is at the intersection of Godwin School Road (Delaware Road 410) and Hardscrabble Road (Route 20).