The Hammond School
One room schools appeared every 2 or 3 miles in rural Waterville Township during the mid 1800s well into early 1900s. These farm families so valued public education they often donated land for a school building that kids could walk to. Such was the case with the Hammond School located at the corner of Waterville-Neapolis and Noward Roads (circle on map.) Dorothy Moosman wrote a concise history of this school in 2004 which can be found at the Wakeman Archives. The 89 acre farm at that corner was purchased in 1846 by Joseph and Mary Ann White but Joseph died in 1848. Mary Ann married James Hammond in 1849 but this ill-fated marriage ended in divorce in 1867, Mary Ann claiming abandonment. James had been absent more than three years. June 10, 1874 Mary Ann White Hammond deeded one half acre of her land to the Waterville Township Board of Education for $10 so long as it was used for school purposes. The lot was referred to as the Hammond School House lot. The school was built and used until 1914. Meanwhile the farm changed hands several times and eventually was purchased by John Moosman in two parcels in 1926 and 1936 and requested that the school parcel, no longer used, be rejoined to the rest of the farm. The old school was moved to the back of the Willard Farnsworth property for reuse as an outbuilding as was so often the fate of these old school buildings. The Hammond School site can be found on many of our old maps but has been completely obliterated by the new Route 24 bypass.