One-room schools were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room. There, a single teacher taught academic basics to several grade levels of elementary-age children. While in many areas one-room schools are no longer used, it is not uncommon for them to remain in developing nations and rural or remote areas. Examples include remote parts of the American West, the Falklands, and the Shetland Islands.
The Claymont Stone School, also known as Naaman's Creek School #1, is a historic schoolhouse built in 1805, on land donated by Founding Father John Dickinson, in Claymont, Delaware, on the Philadelphia Pike just south of the Darley House. The school was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. Its official Delaware State Historic Marker indicates that the school "may have been the first racially integrated public school in the State."
The Old Idaho Penitentiary State Historic Site was a functional prison from 1872 to 1973 in the western United States, east of Boise, Idaho. The first building, also known as the Territorial Prison, was constructed in the Territory of Idaho in 1870; the territory was seven years old when the prison was built, a full two decades before statehood.
The Round Hill Historic District encompasses the village center of Round Hill, a formerly rural area in northwestern Greenwich, Connecticut. Centered on the junction of John Street and Round Hill Road, the district includes a church, cemetery, two houses, and a former district school, the latter dating to 1750. Established as a center for local farmers in the 18th century, it was transformed in the early 20th century into a center for suburban and summer estate residents. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The South School is a historic one-room schoolhouse at 6 Schoolhouse Rd. in Shutesbury, Massachusetts. It is one of two such schoolhouses remaining in Shutesbury, and is a rare example of a side-gable construction. Its date of construction is uncertain, but is estimated to be about 1830. Because of the simplicity of the building, the presence of both Federal and Greek Revival elements in its design, and the comparatively late adoption of Greek Revival styles in the rural community, the school may have been built at a later date.
The District #6 Schoolhouse, also known locally as the Little Red Schoolhouse or the Lincoln School, located in Brunswick, New York, United States, is a one-room schoolhouse built c. 1830 or 1837 that was home to grades one through eight until the consolidation of Brunswick (Brittonkill) Central School District in 1952. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on July 3, 2008 and a dedication ceremony for the accomplishment was held on June 12, 2009.
The District #2 Schoolhouse, known locally as the Garfield School and also known as Brunswick District No. 2 School, located in Brunswick, New York, United States, is a two-room schoolhouse built and opened in 1881. It hosted local students until the consolidation of Brunswick (Brittonkill) Central School District in the mid-1950s. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1988, becoming the first building in the Town of Brunswick to be added to the Register. It is the current home of the Brunswick Historical Society.
The former District School No. 14 building is located on Academy Street in Pine Hill, New York, United States. It is a concrete-sided frame building erected in the mid-1920s.
Fishing Creek Schoolhouse is a historic school located in the Villas census-designated place, of Lower Township, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. The schoolhouse was built in 1888 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 6, 1980.
The Concord School House is a historic one-room schoolhouse in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is operated today as a museum. It is part of the Colonial Germantown Historic District which was named a National Historic Landmark District in 1965.
The Venersborg School is a historic one-room school located at NE 209th Street and NE 242nd Avenue in Battle Ground, Washington.
Strang School District No. 36, or the Strang Public School, is a historic school located in Fillmore County, Nebraska, in the village of Strang. The school is one of the two sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the village of Strang. The school building is a small, two-story, brick public schoolhouse, which was built to replace the schoolhouse that was previously located on that site. The schoolhouse was built between 1929 and 1930, and replaced the previous schoolhouse, which burned down in 1928. The schoolhouse still retains all original building materials. The school served high school students from 1930 to 1951, and still functions as a school today, serving grades K–8. The NRHP listing also includes a flagpole located outside the schoolhouse, and five pieces of playground equipment.
The Gibraltar District School No. 2 is a historic one-room school on the Door Peninsula in the town of Gibraltar, Door County, Wisconsin, United States. Built in the 1860s to serve children in the village of Ephraim, it operated as a school for approximately eighty years before closing and being converted into a museum. It has been designated a historic site because of its place in the area's history.
Crabapple School is located at 14671 Lower Crabapple Road in Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It was consolidated with Fredericksburg Independent School District in 1957. The building is now used as a community center. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Gillespie County, Texas on May 6, 2005.
The Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse is a historic one-room schoolhouse on Tucker Mountain Road in Andover, New Hampshire. The small wood frame building was built in 1837, and served as a schoolhouse until 1893, when it was closed due to declining enrollments. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. It is now owned by the Andover Historical Society, and is occasionally open to the public in the summer.
The Harriman School is a historic one-room schoolhouse on North Road in rural Sebec, Maine. Built in 1860, it is the oldest of two surviving 19th-century district schoolhouses in the community. The vernacular Greek Revival building served as a public school until 1933, and was converted into a museum by the Sebec Historical Society after it acquired the property in 1966. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
Franklin School in Boise, Idaho, was a 2-story, brick and stucco building designed by Tourtellotte & Hummel and constructed in 1926. The school featured a flat roof with a decorated concrete parapet. The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982. In 2009 the building was demolished.
Ustick School in Boise, Idaho, is a 2-story, 4-room Colonial Revival schoolhouse constructed in 1909 in the former town of Ustick. The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1982.
The Espanola Schoolhouse is a one-story; one-room rural school building that has survived from the Jim Crow racial segregation-era. It is the last standing one-room schoolhouse in Flagler County. It is located at 98 Knox Jones Avenue, Bunnell, Florida 32110.
A two-room schoolhouse is a larger version of the one-room schoolhouse, with many of the same characteristics, providing the facility for primary and secondary education in a small community. While providing the same function as a contemporary primary school or secondary school building, a small multi-room school house is more similar to a one-room schoolhouse, both being architecturally very simple structures. While once very common in rural areas of many countries, one and two-room schools have largely been replaced although some are still operating. Having a second classroom allowed for two teachers to operate at the school, serving a larger number of schoolchildren and/or more grade levels. Architecturally, they could be slightly more complex, but were still usually very simple. In some areas, a two-room school indicated the village or town was wealthier and more prosperous.
