The Old School officially becomes Cranbury’s Town Hall this Sunday.
By: Casha Caponegro
On Sunday, the building known to residents as the Old School will officially become Cranbury’s Town Hall.
The event will be a momentous occasion in the history of a building that has withstood several demolition attempts and has remained an integral part of Cranbury’s history for more than 100 years.
The program Sunday will include a history of Landmarks, the group that saved the building from being demolished during the 1960s and 1970s, and a description of the building’s recent renovations. Those who attend the ceremony also will have a chance to tour the building.
Built in 1896, the Old School was Cranbury’s first consolidated, graded school, unifying the North and South Cranbury schools that were being used at the time.
According to back issues of The Cranbury Press, the contract to build the school was awarded in July 1896 to William W. Walker, who bid $4,249.91.
Construction of the building began that August, and its cornerstone was put in place in September.
The building officially opened on Jan. 25, 1897, with an enrollment of 159 students, said The Cranbury Press.
The red-brick schoolhouse originally had four classrooms, two on the ground floor and two on the second floor. It had separate entrances for girls on its north side and for boys on its south side.
According to a history of the building by former student Angie Cook, the total cost of the school was $7,347.76.
At the school’s dedication in February 1897, The Cranbury Press said the Corona Dramatic Club presented the bell that still hangs in the cupola of the building. Made at the McShare Foundation in Baltimore, the side of the bell displayed in raised lettering the names of the 1897 Board of Education members.
Through community fund-raisers, members of the Cranbury High School Alumni Association purchased an E. Howard Town Clock for the school’s clock tower in 1906.
According to Ms. Cook, a south wing of two classrooms was added to the school in 1906 at a cost of $1,500. A second wing on the north side of the building was added in 1922 to accommodate an enrollment of 200 students.
"By that time it was deemed proper for boys and girls to use the same entrance," said a 1971 report by the U.S. Department of the Interior. "The original separate entrances were converted into windows, and what was the ground floor center window was made an ample entrance, using recessed double doors with an admirable fan light above."
Further additions were made in 1949 and 1957 to the west and south portions of the building.
An addition in 1967 included the portion of the school that currently houses classrooms and the Cranbury Public Library. It was at that time that the original Old School and its 1906 and 1922 additions were no longer used for classes.
During the ’60s and ’70s, the school board proposed destroying the original schoolhouse, which was sorely in need of repair.
However, a group of citizens, calling itself the Save the Old School Committee, was dedicated to stopping the demolition and convinced the courts to delay the bulldozers. Eventually, these volunteers formed Cranbury Landmarks Inc.
"The school was part of the whole Cranbury look," said Clara Amend, a founding member of Landmarks. "Destroying it would be removing a whole section of the unified picture. Most of all it is part of Cranbury’s identity."
Once the destruction of the Old School was delayed, Landmarks worked with the Historical and Preservation Society to convince the state to declare the building a historic site.
According to the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office, the Old School building was put on the State Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1971. It was put on the national register on June 21, 1971.
"This building is the only example of late 19th century architecture in a public building in this area," said a 1971 report by the U.S. Department of Interior. "The proportions of the building are excellent and the details of moderate ornamentation are typical of the time."
Robert Craig of the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office said in August that the placement of the building on the state and national registers gave it a measure of protection from public undertakings.
Matching funds donated by the National Parks Service and the N.J. Historic Sites Commission, Landmarks enlisted volunteers to help renovate the building so that it could become a community cultural center.
"We knew the building had potential for use in many ways," said Ms. Amend. "We knew it was viable as a cultural center and would work as such."
Once this restoration was completed in 1974, Landmarks rented the building out to various cultural groups and organizations, including the Princeton Ballet Society and the Rutgers Extension Division’s Program for Women.
Landmarks applied for a grant in 1973 from the Eva Gebhard-Gourgaud Foundation, which provided a donation for the restoration of a room that would be dedicated to cultural programming. The room, the Gourgaud Gallery, continues to have a home in the building.
In 1990 the Board of Education, which still owned the building, reclaimed it due to lack of adequate office space.
The township purchased the building from the school board in 1998 for $1.
Aided by a grant from the N.J. Historic Trust, the township organized $2 million in renovations to the building, which included new electrical wiring, acoustic and fire-rated ceilings, new plumbing, roof repairs, floor refinishing, patching and an elevator. The project began in January, 2000 and finished up earlier this year.
The former Old School currently houses the municipal offices and meeting rooms, the Board of Education offices and the Gourgaud Gallery.
Full slate planned
A variety of events are planned for Sunday’s Town Hall dedication at 2 p.m.
A patriotic salute by the Red, White and Blues band from Cranbury School and a color guard advance and Posting of colors by the Cranbury Boy Scouts will kick off the event.
The program also will include an invocation by the Rev. John Foster of the United Methodist Church of Cranbury and a benediction by the Rev. Laurence D. Fish of St. David’s Episcopal Church.
The festivities will continue with presentations on the history of Cranbury Landmarks Inc. by Landmark President William L. Bunting and on the 2000-2001 renovation of the Old School by Committeman Alan Danser.
Dedication Committee Chairperson Betty Wagner will present the Town Hall dedication plaque and the ceremony will culminate with a ribbon-cutting to mark the opening of the building and a ringing of the clock tower bell.
After the ceremony, tours will be given by Landmarks members and former Old School students.
Exhibits will include "Reflections of the Old School" in the Gourgaud Gallery and the "School Days" exhibit at the Cranbury Museum.
There also will be events for children. The Cranbury Public Library is holding "The Colonial Conjurer," a program featuring Tom Higens performing Magic from the Colonial days.

