Open house set for Eldred Township one-room school house

The Frantz one-room school house in Eldred Township before and after renovations. (Photos provided)

By Howard Frank Pocono Record Writer

For just the second time in 70 years, a newly renovated one-room school house will be open to the public in Eldred Township.

The Frantz School, at 485 Church Road, dates back to the mid-1800s. In 1855, the Town of Eldred had seven one-room schoolhouses, according to Tony Giordano, who with his wife Rene led the renovations. Students sat in rows on benches and took notes with chalk on pieces of slate. Each school taught in German, the predominant language of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

The advent of school buses a century later led to the closing and consolidation of all the one-room school houses into a single one. The Frantz School was among those that closed and laid in disrepair for years.

“It’s exciting to watch slowly as you do each step,” Renee Giordano said. “Sometimes we sit at the desks and imagine what it was like for each kid sitting there with a teacher in front giving a lesson.”

Visitors will see the desks and chalkboard inside the building. The desks are made of wood with wrought-iron legs. The units are attached to each other in the front and back to form two columns. The desktops have a hole to hold an ink well and a small indent to keep the student’s pencils from rolling off.

The open house is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Aug. 6. The Frantz Schulhaus is located at 485 Church Road in Kunkletown.

Story from the Pocono Record