Penns Neck School

Penns Neck school, date unknown.

Historical Overview

A brick-and-stone school once stood at the intersection of Alexander Road and Route 1. This building - the "Penns Neck School" - was, for generations, an integral part of the historic West Windsor community of Penns Neck, as well as the larger township fabric.

Prior to this school's construction, students learned in small wooden school houses. However, the late-1800s/early-1900s Progressive Movement saw an explosion in the number of schools nationwide, increased attendance, and standardization.[1] In this era, West Windsor's old schoolhouses seemed increasingly obsolete. Thus in April of 1916, township voters approved a referendum to appropriate $35,000 for the construction of two 4-room buildings: the Dutch Neck School - still in operation - and a long-gone identical twin, the Penns Neck School.[2] That June, West Windsor's Board of Education purchased a 3-acre plot of land, at the northern corner of the intersection of Alexander Road and Route 1 (back then an at-grade crossroads), from James S. Schenck, for $1,500.[3]

Penns Neck School, 1923, second grade class.

Construction soon followed, and in the Fall of 1917, classes began at the Penns Neck School.[4] This building had four classrooms, two small offices, and a basement that served as a cafeteria, auditorium. Except for the addition of a cafeteria in the 1950s, this structure remained the same throughout the entirety of its life as an educational institution.[5]

Around the time of its opening, the "supervising principal" was Roy P. Stillwell, who oversaw all of West Windsor's, Robbinsville's, and Princeton Township's schools.[5] Other teachers in 1917 included Nora E. Woodring and Clara M. Petry.[6] In 1919, there were also Elizabeth Gulick, Edith Margarum, and Fannie Arrowsmith.[7] In July 1919, Nora was elected the principal for the Penns Neck school.[8] She, in turn, was succeeded in principalship by Barbara Campbell in 1920.[9],[10]

However, it was a few years later that the Penns Neck school's most memorable principal - Georgiana Hauck - assumed leadership. Around 1922, Mercer County school superintendent Joseph Arnold requested that Hauck - then in her early 20s - become principal and teach 7th and 8th grades there as well.[11],[12],[13] At the time, there were about 130 students.[14]

Georgiana Hauck (rear) and class, 1960.

A report card from 1929 shows some long-gone classes, such as "Physiology" (hygiene, etiquette, and health), "Business Forms," and "Civic Government," among others. At 8th grade commencement, an operetta was held at Penns Neck Community Club across the road, and members of the community filled the auditorium to the brim. At the time, most children wanted to be farmers, although this evolved into aspirations for business or professorships. Field trips included walking to nearby farms or the Princeton Basin area, and there was usually a picnic at the end of the year.[15]

Georgiana Hauck - remembered for being firm but encouraging - taught at the Penns Neck School until 1964.[16] By that time, she had long lived at 229 Washington Road, and would stay there until moving to a nursing home in 1991.[17] At her retirement, a surprise reception was held honoring her and Miss Cecil Errickson, who had retired in 1960 after teaching there for 36 years. Over 900 former students and friends are said to have attended.[18]

From the December 7, 1967 "Town Topics" magazine.

Georgiana was succeeded in principalship by Anne McHugh.[19] However, with the construction of the Maurice Hawk School on Clarksville Road, the Penns Neck School became obsolete. In 1967, after one last lunch in the cafeteria - to members of the West Windsor PTA, the remaining students, and a staff of six - the school, as an educational institution, closed down for good.[20] Over the years that followed, the Penns Neck School was occupied by the Eden Institute, the Middlesex-Somerset-Mercer regional planning group, a firm of architects (John Zvosek and Leo Mahoney), and an employment agency.[21],[22]

Attendees at the final Penns Neck School reunion - December 11, 1994.

In the 1990s, considerations for turning the at-grade Route 1-Alexander Road intersection into an overpass meant that the school would soon be demolished. On December 11, 1994, many former students gathered one last time in the old building to say goodbye to an integral part of their childhoods.[23]

The Penns Neck School was demolished in the spring of 1995 to make way for the Alexander Road overpass.[24] Georgiana Hauck passed away four years later and is buried at the cemetery of the nearby Princeton Baptist Church in Penns Neck[25] - her home neighborhood for many years, and community that was long served by the Penns Neck School.

Penns Neck school being demolished, 1995.

Bibliography

Herbst, Jurgen. The Once and Future School: Three Hundred and Fifty Years of American Secondary Education. London u.a: Routledge, 1996.
“Vote: New Schools for West Windsor.” Trenton Evening Times, April 19, 1916.
Board of Education of the Township of West Windsor, Schenck, John S. “Deed.” West Windsor, 1916. Located in the Historical Society of West Windsor's archives at the West Windsor History Museum.
“To Vote on Sale of Four Schools.” Trenton Evening Times, October 29, 1917. Mentions that "...the children of the township (are) now being taught in the fine new graded schools at Dutch Neck and Penn's Grove."
“Perfect Attendance in Township Schools.” Trenton Evening Times, May 19, 1916.
“Windsor Teachers Named.” Trenton Evening Times, May 11, 1917.
“Dutch Neck.” Trenton Evening Times, July 22, 1919.
Ibid.
"Penns Neck.” Trenton Evening Times, October 10, 1920.
"Penns Neck Pupils Give May Day Fete.” Trenton Evening Times, May 21, 1921.
“We Nominate.” Town Topics, May 14, 1964.
Parry, Joan. “Broadside,” 1983. Historical Society of West Windsor newsletter, April 1983. Interview with Georgiana Hauck.
Princeton Baptist Church. (n.d.). Princeton Baptist Church graveyard. West Windsor. Princeton Baptist Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there - including those of many of West Windsor's oldest families.
Parry, Joan. “Broadside,” 1983. Historical Society of West Windsor newsletter, April 1983. Interview with Georgiana Hauck.
Ibid.
“We Nominate.” Town Topics, May 14, 1964.
“The Best Teacher Ever - Remembering Georgiana Hauck.” News Eagle, February 19, 1999.
Hauck, Georgiana. Letter to Organizers of the Surprise Reception for Georgiana Hauck and Cecil Errickson. West Windsor, New Jersey: Penns Neck, April 14, 1964. Located in the Archives of the Historical Society of West Windsor at the West Windsor History Museum. Attached to the handwritten letter is a typewriter-typed summary of the reception (presumably also from 1964, given the paper age and the fact that it was clearly made by a typewriter).
“Doors Closed Forever.” Town Topics, December 7, 1967.
“Last Bell Rings Tomorrow At Phased-Out Area School.” Unknown Newspaper, November 1964. Located in the Archives of the Historical Society of West Windsor at the West Windsor History Museum.
“An old school lesson in design.” Unknown Newspaper, 1973 or 1974. Located in the Archives of the Historical Society of West Windsor at the West Windsor History Museum.
“Penns Neck School soon just a memory.” Unknown Newspaper, May1, 1995. Located in the Archives of the Historical Society of West Windsor at the West Windsor History Museum.
“Penns Neck School Reunion.” West Windsor, NJ: Penns Neck, December 11, 1994. Located in the Archives of the Historical Society of West Windsor at the West Windsor History Museum.
“Penns Neck School soon just a memory.” Unknown Newspaper, May1, 1995. Located in the Archives of the Historical Society of West Windsor at the West Windsor History Museum.
Princeton Baptist Church. (n.d.). Princeton Baptist Church graveyard. West Windsor. Princeton Baptist Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there - including those of many of West Windsor's oldest families.