On May 17th, 2025 (1pm to 3pm) at the Romulus Central School cafeteria located at 5705 NY-96, Romulus, NY, we explored the history of Fayette’s one-room schoolhouses.
The first of a series of programs to celebrate the 225th Anniversary of the Town of Fayette. This program, led by Dr Dale Freier Jr, began with the historical background of the schoolhouses. He described the extensive state planning, funding, and local involvement in the Township of Fayette to promote education and growth of the newly settled town. He mapped out each of the 16 one-room schoolhouse districts and identified their buildings or locations with photos across the town. He brought each location to life with local censuses, school expenses, old report cards, and many other historical artifacts and true stories. The lecture concluded with a tour of the preserved 1830s MacDougall Schoolhouse #14 on campus, with an interactive demonstration of what it would be like to be a student at that time. This Fayette schoolhouse was moved to the Romulus Central School campus in 1997 for preservation and restoration as part of the school district’s 1998 60th Anniversary Celebration.
