19th century Johnsburg — New school at Riparius

Riparius residents were proud of their new school.

“The citizens of Riparius are rejoicing over the opening of their new schoolhouse, in which school sessions began yesterday. The new school building is the best in the town of Johnsburg,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Sept. 18, 1894.

“It is thirty by twenty-two feet in dimensions, a story and a half in height, and it is surmounted by a belfry.”

A campaign was planned to raise funds to buy a bell for the tower.

“At present it is seated with chairs, but a contract for modern single desks has been made with the United States School Furnishing Company.”

School Trustee Seymour C. Armstrong supervised the construction.

In other 19th century Johnsburg news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• Long before cell phone service was an issue, the land-line telephone signal was weak at Johnsburg.

“M.A. Morehouse, a well-known Wevertown merchant, has invented an ingenious telephone, which, as a successful transmitter of sound, is said to be an improvement on the short-distance phones now in use,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on May 22, 1894. “He has applied for a letters patent.”

• “It is reported that the engineer of an Adirondack train found it necessary to stop the train near Riverside last Friday to avoid hitting five deer which had been driven out of the woods by a fire. The story has not yet been verified,” The Morning Star reported on May 21, 1894.
• “Robert Armstrong, the oldest resident in the town of Johnsburg, died on Tuesday morning in the ninety-second year of his age,” The Johnsburg correspondent reported in The Morning Star on May 23, 1894.
• J.W. Watson is in possession of some fine blooded hens presented him by friends in Cazenovia,” the Riparius correspondent reported in The Morning Star on June 9, 1894.
• “The degree of bachelor of arts was conferred Wednesday upon Jabez E. Armstrong of Johnsburg by the University of Vermont. Mr. Armstrong was also honored by an election to Phi Beta Kappa,” The Morning Star reported on June 30, 1894.
• “The circus has come and gone, and P.T. Barnum’s old proverb proved true. Two thousand people wanted to be humbugged,” the North Creek correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Aug. 30, 1894. “Nothing draws a crowd like a circus. The show was fine.”

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