One-room school open to visitors

KAUFFMAN - The Old Brown's Mill School Museum will be open to the public each Saturday and Sunday this summer from 1 to 4 p.m. through Sunday, Aug. 26. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted to assist in upkeep of the school.

The Old Brown's Mill School was constructed in 1836 when 51 subscribers contributed the needed funds for the structure on land donated by Lazarus Brown. It served the community until 1922 when a consolidated building was erected nearby.

The school was restored in 1935 and dedicated in October of the same year as a memorial to the rapidly-vanishing one-room schools of the county. More than 7,000 pupils, teachers and other interested citizens contributed to the cost of restoration by the Old Brown's Mill School Memorial Association.

In 1962 the school property was deeded to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

On Oct. 19, 2002, the school was sold by the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission to the Kittochtinny Historical Society. The transaction was made possible through a gift from Thomas G. and Nancy H. Burkey and family of Chambersburg in memory of the Honorable Enos H. Horst and his wife, Mildred Sheller Horst. He served as state representative from 1955-1967. She once taught in a one room school.

The Franklin County Chapter of The Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees has been responsible for providing volunteers during the summer weekends with assistance from the Kittochtinny Historical Society and Franklin County Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

The museum contains pictures, furniture, books, records and relics and other mementos of the early education era.

It is located just off U.S. 11 north of Greencastle in the village of Kauffman.