This Exists
Southwest District School, Bloomfield (Location)
July 2019
Connecticut museum visit #450.
Yeahhhhhhh… I didn’t visit this schoolhouse. Well, I did, as these are my pictures, but I didn’t get in.
I live quite nearby this old stone structure and pass by it quite often. I’ve reached a point at which I’ve decided it’ll never be open for me as a museum, so I’m just going to use the pictures I took when I walked around and peered into it and call it a day.
If the Wintonbury (Bloomfield) Historical Society gets the grant funds and volunteers to open it for visitors, I’ll update this page. They face another challenge, however, and that’s the fact there is nowhere to park and its on a busy road. I’m going to guess this is the best I’ll be able to do.
(Okay, sure, I could reach out to the Historical Society and ask to get inside but… what good is that going to do for any of us? It’s a one room schoolhouse. There are 20 others on this website and this one does not appear to be unique.
The original Southwest District School was a crude wooden structure on this same Simsbury Road (Route 185). It burned down in the 1850s which necessitated this 1858 trap rock school. After hours, the school was used as a neighborhood library and a meeting place for such groups as the Salvation Army, the Temperance society, prayer groups and the Red Cross. How? It’s so small!
Old stuff
But not too small to be a branch of the town’s Prosser Library in the 1920’s and 30’s.
I have no idea what state it was in for the latter half of the 20th century, but in 2002, grants and donations allowed folks to fix it up and restore the roof and underlying structure. For 20 years, groups of volunteers have been cleaning it up, painting it, and I suppose collecting the assortment of stuff inside.
I peeked in again in 2025 and nothing has changed. Perhaps a bit more mold growth on the walls and a thicker layer of dust. With the lack of parking – or much hope of that ever being rectified, I think this little piece of history will just remain as is for the remainder of my museum quest.
Wintonbury Historical Society
CTMQ’s Museum Visits
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