By Florence Goodman

Farmingbury, later known as Wolcott, was formed from land settled by residents of the towns of Waterbury and Farmington. Each of these towns had their own ecclesiastical society or church, but we did not. It was not until November 13, 1770 that the First Ecclesiastical Society was established in Farmingbury. Many of the people who became part of this parish had settled in the area as early as 1731. At that time there was no separation of church and state; thus at this first meeting of the Society a parish government was established. The Society also voted to build a meetinghouse.

Prior to the establishment of our Ecclesiastical Society, the people of Farmingbury were allowed to have a winter parish which had its own schools and gave the residents exemption from paying taxes for schools in other towns. During the 1770 meeting of the Ecclesiastical Society, a school committee was chosen and it was voted to divide the town into districts. Nine districts were established as follows: North, Northeast, Center, Southwest, South, West, Mill Place, East, and Southeast. It was believed that at first most of the schools in these districts were kept in private homes, but once school houses were built, the Southeast district and the one at Mill Place were discontinued.

The earliest schoolhouse in the Southwest district was located on Nichols Road. The original wooden structure was destroyed by fire and was replaced circa1821 with the present stone structure. Today it houses the Wolcott Historical SocietyÕs museum. In 1930 it was voted to replace the stone school with a new two-room brick school building called Woodtick School. Classes were held in this structure until Frisbie School was opened in 1950. The Woodtick School was used as the headquarters of the Public Safety Department until it was demolished to make room for the new structure.

In the North district, the old North School was located on North Street. This wooden structure was destroyed by fire in 1928 and replaced by a one-room brick structure with inside plumbing and furnace. Today this school houses a manufacturing company. The Northeast School was located on Beecher Road, but the original structure is no longer in existence. In 1945 the townspeople voted to build a new six-room school in this district. Two more rooms were to be added to this school in the future. This school was Alcott School.

The South School located in the Southeast district on Meriden Road just east of Shelton Avenue was in existence in 1812. This building served this area until it was replaced by a larger structure in 1855. This school was also located on Meriden Road, but near Farview Avenue and was in operation until the 1920s. It was sold in 1923 and became a private dwelling. In 1922 a new two-room school was erected on Shelton Avenue. In 1930 two more rooms were added to the structure. The school was renovated and named the Addin Lewis School in 1949. This school was closed in 1966 and replaced with the new Tyrrell School.

The Center School was located on the Town Green near the Congregational Church and was built circa 1856. This original wooden structure was destroyed by fire in 1930. It was replaced with the larger brick structure soon afterward. Today it houses the offices of the Superintendent of Schools.

The West School stood on Spindle Hill Road close to the intersection of Clinton Hill and Andrews Road. In 1946 the school was turned into a private residence and is located on Spindle Hill Road across from Rustic Acres. In 1959 the town voted to build a new school to meet the needs of students in the western section of town. That school was named Wakelee School.

As the population of our town increased larger schools were needed to meet the needs of our students. The one-room schoolhouses became a thing of the past that were replaced with larger more modern buildings.

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