Elm Street School - Titusville, PA, USA
Posted by: 
bpratt
N 41° 37.898 W 079° 41.067
17T E 609577 N 4609713
The Second Wards two story grade school that was so tuff it even survived a fire that gutted it's interior.
Waymark Code: WMD4RD
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 11/18/2011
Views: 8
The Elm Street school opened it's doors in the fall of 1873 and would have opened sooner except during it's construction there was an extremely violent windstorm that knocked down one of it's walls before the building was completed. After updates a few years later there were a total of 10 rooms in the building and teachers had up to 96 students each!
On February third 1988 the entire structure was gutted by a tragic fire. After a quick look at the structure it was decided the the exterior of the building was still intact and safe so the insides were rebuilt and the school opened was again to serve the community.
On May 8, 1899, Colonel J. J. Carter, President of the School Board announced that he would personally supply the needed materials to start the first free kindergarten in the city and one of the first in the entire state. The location for this class was to be the Second Ward School known as Elm Street.
The school was to remain in use till a couple of years after it's 100th anniversary. When the school was closed the students who would have normally gone here began attending other schools like Main Street, Cherry Tree and Pleasentville.
The building has now been converted to apartments with many changes made to the inside and only a few to the exterior. There is now a picnic shelter on the north east corner of the property a small storage shelter near the parking lot and if you look at the windows you can see where small windows were installed and the area over them sealed and water proofed. In my pictures you will see that the Second Ward Public School inlay is still visible well above the door.
Please use the link below to see the webpage that I obtained some of my information from. Other information was obtained from my memory as I was an attendee of this school through my 5 grade year which was shortly before it was closed.
Address:
617 W. Elm Street
Titusville, PA USA
16354
Web Site: [Web Link]
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