 |
Wheelock School |
|
24 Adams
Street, Keene, New Hampshire 03431 |
History of the Wheelock School
In 1885 the student population of Keene had outgrown the capacity of its existing school buildings. Four rented rooms, each in a different building, were being rented for use as schoolrooms. As a result, the people of Keene voted to build a new school. They purchased a lot of land from James B. Elliot at the end of Elliot Street at a price of two thousand dollars. Work on the new school was finished in 1887, at a cost of eight thousand dollars. The Elliot School was constructed of brick with a wooden roof. The school consisted of two rooms on the first floor. It wasn't until 1889 that the two rooms upstairs were completed for an additional fifteen hundred dollars. The Elliot School became a four room schoolhouse.
In 1909 Keene Normal School was established and Elliot School was used as a training school for new teachers.
In 1915 four new rooms were added, other rooms divided, and the Elliot School became known as Wheelock School, after George Wheelock, the first park commissioner in Keene. He gave the city of Keene both Robin Hood and Wheelock Parks.
In 1951, one hundred fifty-three thousand dollars was appropriated to add five classrooms, a kindergarten, and an all-purpose room to the Wheelock School. The project was completed in 1952.
In 1979 a building program in excess of one million dollars provided a two story, six room addition to the front of the existing building.
In 2003, Wheelock School and Keene State College formally ended the ninety-four year training school partnership, although many Keene State college students still visit Wheelock as part of their educational experience on their way to becoming educators.
Today, Wheelock School is one of five neighborhood elementary
schools in the Keene School District. From its humble roots as a two room
schoolhouse, Wheelock has evolved into a school of the twenty-first century.
We are a fully networked school, boasting a computer laboratory, and many
electronic teaching tools. Technology is integrated into various areas of
the curriculum at all grade levels.