Williamstown School

On February 2nd, 1891, the Williamstown Graded Free School Building opened its doors. The construction of the school was widely celebrated by the residents of Grant County as a testament to their progress as a community. The school sat where the Williamstown City Building currently sits. The school stood for only 32 years, as it unfortunately was consumed by flames on March 3rd, 1923.

From the Williamstown Courier, February, 1891:

"The building is of hard red brick with black slate roof, one main entrance through the imposing tower on the right, the other through the portico on the left. It contains six rooms. Four school rooms 28x30 each, capable of comfortably seating 75 to 80 pupils if necessary. One small room for the use of the principal and board of trustees. One large chapel or lecture room 30x59 in the clear, three large halls, handsome double stairways, closets and a large basement room 28x30. The interior finish of the building including the wainscotting is of natural wood, Georgia pine, the doors and blinds only being of spruce pine. The effects of these woods when highly polished with hard oil is beautiful beyond descrip-tion. All of these rooms are fitted with inside blinds of the latest pat-tern. Each school room has five large windows, of best double strength glass, two lights to the win-dow. Very careful attention was given to the subject of light and ventilation. Each room is provided with cold air registers and also a register connected with a foul air or ventilating flue, so that the poisenous and vitiated air is taken out of the room and discharged at the top of the chimney.”

Coincidentally, on March 3rd, 1923, the school house burned the day before a new bid announcement was to be released to construct a new school on the same grounds.

from a Facebook post by the Grant County KY Historical Society