The Cooley School is the only remaining one-room schoolhouse in Granby which has not
been renovated into a home or shop. It was built c.1870, on the corner of East Street and
Cooley Road in North Granby. At that location, the school and woodshed were in Granby,
while the outhouse was in Southwick, Massachusetts.
After 1948, when the one-room schools in Granby were closed, the original furniture
was auctioned off. The blackboard, however, remained intact, with some of the last
teacher's writing still on it.
In 1972, the school was given to the Salmon Brook Historical Society by Merrill
Clark, whose mother had taught at the school. In 1980, the Society moved the school to its
present location at 208 Salmon Brook Street.
A 19th century schoolroom has been recreated, with a wood stove, water bucket and
dipper (shared by all), an 1855 Connecticut map, and the mandatory picture of George
Washington, as well as books and desks once used in Granby District Schools.
Visiting school children once again sit at the much-used desks (complete with carved
initials), open the readers and geography books, and write on the waiting slates.
