The Manor’s grand edifice of learning

Edward Lundquist | Manor Ink

No matter where you come from, if you have lived here all your life or are just passing through on a camping trip, I think you’ll find that the school is the singular edifice of Livingston Manor. Completed in 1939, the school’s brick walls and slate roof haven’t changed much over the years, but there have been additions to the iconic building.

In the first blueprint, the school, which is two stories in height, contained 28 classrooms, a combination gym-auditorium, a small kindergarten section, a cafeteria, a library, rooms for science, medical and dental clinics, and a garage off the back of the central building that could hold five buses. Over time, however, new additions have been made, including a larger elementary wing and a middle school wing that includes another gymnasium.

On the grounds around the school, there were no playgrounds, but there was a quarter-mile track, an athletic field and a tennis court/basketball court combination. To meet the requirements set by a growing population, one playground was added, then a second, and the tennis court eventually went out of use, becoming a place for students to play other games like basketball and kickball.

Part of Roosevelt’s New Deal

Livingston Manor Central School was built as America was coming out of the Great Depression. The New Deal was the solution to the problems created by the collapse of the country’s financial markets in 1929. By signing a series of laws and trying to get the economic “blood pumping,” the government tried to fix the economic problems and even provide further benefits, like improved schools and other public spaces. President Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act, creating the Public Works Administration, contributing billions of dollars to tens of thousands of infrastructure projects across the US. LMCS was one of those projects.

The school is built on Sherwood Island, and it once was an island, skirted by the Willowemoc Creek. Back in 1913, the island had a park, which was an incredible place with music, food and a merry-go-round, said to be the first of its kind in Sullivan County. “It was a simple affair, run by two men behind a curtain,” said the Walton Reporter in 1913.

The park was also the site of community events like holiday celebrations, horse races, greased pole climbing and more.

Also on Sherwood Island was a factory which produced all manner of long cylindrical wooden objects, including all Spaulding baseball bats until 1900, table legs and bowling pins. During the First World War, as well, the factory lent itself to the cause by producing cap blocks, tools used in Navy yards for pile driving. Rebuilt after a catastrophic fire in 1916, it was then used solely for the purpose of bowling pin production.

A second-to-none new school

After the park and factory era, the school was completed. The first event at LMCS was the President’s Ball, a program held in the auditorium that included music, dancing, a talent show and a fashion show. Over 1,000 people came from the Manor, Roscoe and as far away as Monticello to celebrate. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was also held (the ribbon was cut by the late Larry Shaver, then 3 years old), and an exercise where four hundred pupils gathered by the flagpole at the front of the school, along with teachers, to raise the flag and be admitted into LMCS.

It must have been incredible for those students to go from a cold one-room schoolhouse to a brand new, massive building with individual lockers, separate classrooms and working bathrooms.

And the pride truly showed. Passersby observed students enjoying themselves playing games on the sports fields. Inside, students were warm and comfortable, not having to huddle around a small wood-burning stove. They quickly gained respect for their school, understanding that they had an incredible, second-to-none institution for that time. They were taught to keep the school spotless, and they showed gratitude every chance they got, whether through sports, dances or even in the song dedicated to the school, “The Alma Mater.”

I feel, though, that citizens of the town and LMCS students have forgotten what a special place the school is, and perhaps they never even knew. It has become such a familiar part of life in the Manor that it has lost some of its charm to us. It is for this reason that it’s so important to know the iconic building’s origins, and to reinvigorate a sense of pride in our fantastic school.