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School's Out - No More Pencils, No More
Books From a pencil drawing by noted Pine artist, Bill Ahrendt. This is an artist's impression of activities around the Strawberry Schoolhouse during Arizona territorial days. The original drawing hangs on the east wall of the school interior. |
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School Restoration This photo is from the 1980s, shortly after the schoolhouse was restored and opened as a schoolhouse museum in August 1981. |
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Historical Marker This historical marker stands in front of the school and tells the story of its construction in 1885, its closing in 1907 for lack of students (permanently closed in June of 1916), its unfortunate abandonment, and its restoration as a community project in 1967. |
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The Oldest Standing Schoolhouse in Arizona |
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Exterior Modifications In 2004, several modifications were made to the exterior including re-chinking of the logs, rebuilding the entrance steps and installing new ramps for visitor accessibility. |
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Corner joint detail The schoolhouse construction relies on a corner joint detail known as the "half dovetail notch." The procedure for cutting a half-dovetail corner is almost forgotten in America. It produces a firmly locked joint and retains a water-draining advantage. It is a superior type identified with fine craftsmanship. These joints were formed on-site by the craftsman with careful strokes of an axe. |
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View from the back of the school |
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School Interior A view of the front of the classroom from a student's perspective. |
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The teacher's oak desk with a world globe, McGuffey Readers, school hand bells and, of course, an "apple for the teacher." |
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McGuffey Readers Two of the best known school books in the history of American education were the 18th century New England Primer and the 19th century McGuffey Readers. Of the two, McGuffey's was more popular and widely used. It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. (from "McGuffey Readers", Wikipedia) |
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The teacher's perspective from the front of the classroom. |
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Visiting "student" at the
black board A visiting child enjoys writing in chalk on the blackboard. Notice the pump organ on the right. This building was well equipped for a country school. |
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The schoolhouse was heated by a "pot-belly stove." This provided heat during the winter months. It was not unusual for parents to furnish the wood and the older boys to be let out of class to split it for the next day. |
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Weekend Visitors Activities bring visitors of all ages to the Strawberry Schoolhouse. From November 2000. |
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Weekend Festivities It's not unusual to have weekend festivities on the schoolgrounds. This photo from June 2001 shows a group of local musicians including, from left to right: Stan Fuller, Dee "Buckshot Dot" Strickland Johnson, Barb Casey, Chuck Casey and Bob Crose who regularly walks off with the seniors' championship at Payson's Old Time Fiddlers Contest. |
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Jamming Musicians have an impromptu jam session on the schoolhouse grounds. From June 2000. |
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Gryzzworks Blacksmith David Johnson from "Gryzzworks" demonstrates his craftsmanship at the schoolhouse in June 2000. |
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Blacksmith Demonstration Blacksmith David Johnson demonstrates his craft at the schoolhouse. From June 2000. |
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©2009 - All images are the exclusive property of Pine-Strawberry Archaeological and Historical Society and are protected under the United States and International Copyright laws. The images may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without the written permission of Pine-Strawberry Archaeological and Historical Society.
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