A Surprise In The Mail For Gilmanton Historical Society

This picture of the 1938-39 class at the Kelley’s Corner School, with their teacher Helen Tsiotas, was received by the Gilmanton Year-Round Library. An accompanying letter from Ms. Tsiotas with other photographs are on display at the Library. 

 

A letter addressed to “New Library, Gilmanton (Kelly’s Corner?) N. Hampshire” was delivered by an alert postal employee to John Dickey, President of the Gilmanton Historical Society and board member of the new Year-Round Library.

The letter, enclosing four photographs, read:

Dear Librarian:
This is the one room school at Kelly’s Corner in Gilmanton. The Superintendent, Mr. Sanborn, told me he just got a new piano for that school and was anxious to have a capable new teacher. It was my first position and I was anxious to accept it–the piano was very old!–but my class of 9, I’ll never forget. They were all new and beautiful! 70 years ago. Still remembering some names - Daniel Webster and his sister, the Kelly girl, a Ruth ...

Enjoy the new Library!
Miss Tsiotas.  “Something to preserve”

The photos included a picture of Miss Tsiotas with her class, dated 6/16/39, one of children playing ball outside the Kelley’s Corner school, a group picnicking under a tree, and the class on the last day of school in 1939.

Mr. Dickey consulted with Daniel Webster of Gilmanton who was able to fill in details and identify the children in the photograph (himself included). Helen Tsiotas was the teacher at the one room school during the 1938-39 and 1939-1940 school years. She was from Manchester and boarded with the Kelley family during the school year. 

The Kelley’s Corner School, listed on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, is the last of the many one-room school houses in Gilmanton to remain in public ownership. The Gilmanton School Board closed the Kelley’s Corner School at the end of the 1939-1940 school year, as well as three other one room schools that were still in use at that time: the Smith Meeting House School, the Gale School, and the Potter School. For the 1940-1941 school year, Gilmanton’s elementary schools were consolidated into two facilities, one at the Corners in the Academy building, and one at the Iron Works.

The letters and photographs are on display in the Historical Society case at the Gilmanton Year-Round Library opposite the Gilmanton School on Route 140. The Library is open Tuesday and Thursday, noon to 7 p.m.; Wednesday, Friday and Saturday mornings, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.