The Hornby School, previously named the Shadduck School, is a one
roomed schoolhouse on PA Route 430. It replaced the original Shadduck
School that was built west of Station Road in 1850, as well as another
Shadduck School that was built east of Station Road in 1865. The Free
School Act of 1834 prompted the construction of ten school houses in
Greenfield Township, and in 1873 the Greenfield School Board authorized
the construction of two new schools. Two years later, the new Shadduck
School was completed by local builder Fred Hart. The school was renamed
the Hornby School in 1900 after the Hornby Post Office, located just
north-east of the building. That same year, a belfry was added to the
school. By the 1940s, the Hornby School was one of the few one-room
schools in Greenfield Township still in operation.
In 1956, the opening of Greenfield Township Elementary School prompted
the closure of the remaining one-room schools. These structures and
their contents were promptly auctioned off. The Hornby School remained
vacant until 1973, when the property was donated to the newly formed
Hornby School Restoration Society. In August 1984 the Hornby School
Museum opened to the public. The museum boasts all-original
chalkboards, desks, and other teaching implements from either the
Hornby School or other contemporaneous schools in the area. The Hornby
School is considered the least altered one-room school in Greenfield
Township as well as Erie County.
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