District School No. 1

The District #1 schoolhouse on Lake Road in Panton is important because it is a surviving example of the indigenous stone architecture in this rural community. Through its simple lines and distinctive detailing (the molded cornice, the tooled marble lintels, the triangular stone in each gable), the building embodies the pride and dignity that newly founded Vermont communities placed in their buildings. Surrounded by hay fields and orchards, this building stands today as it did 140 years ago, a part of the historic rural landscape that makes Panton and the larger Champlain Valley distinctive to Vermont.

The Town of Panton was chartered in November 1761 to 69 residents of Litchfield, Connecticut. Due to its proximity to foraging armies in the Revolutionary War, its early history remains one of turbulence and travail.

With the end of the war and the elimination of the Indian threat, Panton began to flourish as an agricultural community, benefitting from its location on the fertile banks of Lake Champlain. A simple log house was constructed in 1786 for use as a school. This building was replaced by a more substantial frame building five years later.

In about 1818, with its population still growing, Panton residents divided the town into four school districts. A large, one-room stone schoolhouse was constructed in each. Materials for these structures were taken from the native limestone that protrudes from the fields on the west side of Dead Creek.

The District #1 school served the large farm families along Lake Road. Strong and permanent in construction, the building housed eight to twenty students, depending on enrollment. A mistress or master taught grades through eight. After eighth grade, students who desired to travel to Vergennes for high school. Fluctuations in the farm population throughout the century forced the school to be "mothballed" when enrollment dropped.

The District #1 school was used into the first quarter of this century. Due to a permanent decline in enrollment, the school was closed. permanently and was sold to Harry Irwin in 1932. Irwin made substantial changes to the interior, using it as a chicken coop. Today, owned by Diane Irwin of Charlotte, NC, the building lies vacant, awaiting a new use.

The school is one of a small group of stone schoolhouses in Vermont. They are clustered on the western side of the state, in the Champlain Valley, and form a unique resource within the state. Other members of the group include the District Schoolhouse #6 in Shoreham (entered on the National Register of Historic Places on August 18, 1977) and the Sudbury Schoolhouse #3 (entered on the National Register on November 2, 1978).