Before the Town of Fairfield was incorporated in 1796, there was a
schoolhouse for the children of the millers and manufacturers of the
bustling community now referred to as Old City. Formerly called Fortune's
Mills and Card City, this settlement was on the border of the Towns of
Fairfield and Newport, on the roads now called Old City Road and Farrington
Road. When Trustees George W. Willis and Melvin A. Chase reported
conditions in 1857, it was evident that a new building was needed. This
schoolhouse was built in 1810 to replace an earlier one that had burned.
There was one room of 20 sq. ft. with benches, two blackboards, and a
stove. The wood supply was kept in the entryway and there were no separate
privies. There were no shade trees on the site. School was taught for six
months in 1856 by Emily J. Harris, Eliza M. Read, and Mary Kelley, in that
order. For many years District #4 was shared with the Town of Newport.
Source: written by Jane Dieffenbacher, Fairfield Town Historian, from the county archives, home of the reports filed each year.
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