The borders of Lebanon Township have changed dramatically over the years. Some of the school districts, like Califon and Junction (modern day Hampton), are no longer within the boundaries to the township as it exists today. It is unknown if there was a 13th district or if that number was skipped.
From 1793 to 1798, school in this district was held in private homes. The first school building was in use from 1798-1831 before a new stone octagonal structure was built near where the Mt. Lebanon Grange currently stands. It was replaced in 1876 by a new schoolhouse that was destroyed by fire in 1940. At least twenty-five octagonal schoolhouses were built in New Jersey between 1800-1851. The only existing one, seen above, still stands in Knowlton Township in Warren County.
The first schoolhouse was erected in 1854 in a field at the corner of Little Brook and Sliker Roads. A school was kept on this site until June 1918. In 1927, the foundation of the school was removed by horse and wagon and the stones were used to build a foundation for a house. In the early 1980s, a large stone that had served as the doorstep for the school was removed and buried in front of the doorway of the Lebanon Township Museum.
This school was situated in the southeast corner of the township about two miles east of Little Brook. It was erected in 1857 and closed in 1918.
The first school built in this district was a frame building constructed in 1815. It stood about a half mile south of where the second school was built in 1859. This building is now a private home on Musconetcong River Road.
The first school in this district was probably built by the Thompsons in the year 1800 for the children whose parents were employed in the Thompson’s iron works at the Changewater Forge. A second building was completed in 1835 and still stands on Anthony Road. It is a private residence.
The district in the village of Whitehall (which was renamed Woodglen in 1897) was located on East Hill Road and, over time, utilized three different schoolhouses. The third one was built in the early 1900s and was used until the number of students dropped down to eight. It reopened again in 1951 because Bunnvale school had too many students. It closed permanent in 1953. It is still standing and has recently been renovated by the Rich family. Photo shows Esther Hopson and her 1948 class.
The first building was a small frame schoolhouse built in 1766 and was later converted into a blacksmith shop. For several years after that there was no school in the district until a small stone building was erected in 1825 followed by its replacement in 1874. All of the buildings were on the same site, on the corner of Spruce Run and Hill Roads, and the last one still stands as a private residence. Photo of teacher Mame Banghart and her class at Spruce Run School, circa 1900.
This one-story schoolhouse was built in 1825 on land deeded to the Township by Henry Dusenberry and was partially funded by him. A second story was added in the 1870. It was in use as a public and Sunday school until the late 1920s. It reopened as a Museum in 1981 and a reunion of former students was held here in 1982.
Located in modern-day Hampton, this Main Street building was converted to a private residence and still stands today. It became a part of the borough of Hampton at which time Bunnvale became District #9.
The land for the school was purchased from Oliver Bunn in 1881. The present building was built in 1915 and is located further back on the property than the original building was. It closed in 1954 when the first section of the present Woodglen School was opened. It reopened from 1956-58 and again from 1961-63 to accommodate kindergarten classes while the consolidated school was being completed. In 1978 the Board of Education sold the school to the Township for $1.00. The Township Committee appointed a Library Committee, who oversaw its restoration and establishment as the Bunnvale Library.
The first schoolhouse was built of stone in 1833. A new building was constructed in 1873. This building was called the Beacon Academy and was the only High School located in Lebanon Township. It was a one-room school located next to the Lutheran Church (more recently known as the Youth Center) in present-day Glen Gardner. It was closed in 1915 when the Township built a new brick building on the corner of School Street and Route 31 (now a private daycare). Glen Gardner became a separate political entity from Lebanon Township in 1919 and continued to use the building as a school until 1983.
In 1865, a new district was set off from the townships of Lebanon and Bethlehem and called Mondalia. The nearby Clarksville school was too small to accommodate the number of children from this bustling town with 1500 inhabitants. A two-story school was built in close proximity to the Glen Gardner Station on the New Jersey Central Railroad. It was closed in 1915 when the new school (mentioned in District 10) was built. The Mondalia Academy is located on the south end of Main Street in Glen Gardner and is in use as a residence today.
The building was located on the corner of the intersection of Hoffman’s Crossing and Mr. Grove Roads. It was located in what was then High Bridge Township and was in operation from 1872-1898 before being brought under the auspices of the Lebanon Township Board of Education.
Califon students were compelled to walk through fields to attend Lower Valley, the nearest school. In snowy and rainy weather, these pupils needed a “drying out” period near the pot-bellied stove. In 1890 a two-room schoolhouse on Academy Street (now the Califon Municipal Building) was built for students from Califon, Tewksbury and Lebanon Townships. By the time a new building was complete in 1918, Califon had become a borough and was required to maintain its own school system. Lebanon and Tewksbury Township students attending the school were charged tuition of $20 per pupil.
This district was on the grounds of the New Jersey State Sanatorium for Tuberculosis on Mt. Kipp. It is known that Margaret Treece was paid $47 to teach there for a year in 1917 but little else is known about the school on the hospital grounds. The above photograph shows young patients on the Sanatorium grounds but it it unknown if this is the District 15 school.
