Kearsarge Schools

Historic residence maps locate district schoolhouses within the present Kearsarge Regional School District (KRSD). In 1858, the region’s students attended 78 neighborhood schools. By 1892, improved transportation and declining population reduced the number of active school buildings to 54. Consolidation continued throughout the 20th century, and today the KRSD maintains six school campuses for students from its seven constituent towns: Springfield, Wilmot, New London, Sutton, Newbury, Bradford, and Warner. Those town history books report a total of 94 schools, but it's unlikely that all operated concurrently.

New London Districts

Early school districts in New London were set by local geography and settlement patterns. Neighborhoods funded public education within their districts, offering varying levels and length of instruction. New London had hired its first professional Superintendent of Schools in 1905, and gradually the outlying district schools closed, sending their students to the 1906 Central School building in District 3. The Elkins school was the holdout, closing a decade after the 1941 New London Central School had replaced the overcrowded 1906 structure.

Two district schoolhouses were relocated to the Historical Society, two converted in situ into private residences, and all others dismantled for building materials to be used elsewhere. The 1941 Central School remained vacant after the KRSD Middle School moved to Sutton (in February 2009) and was demolished in 2017.

Schoolbook Collection

PDF files linked to images below include sample pages from school textbooks used by the Burpee-Greenwood family at the Colby Hill School in New London, New Hampshire, during the 1800s.