|
Coal Glen A Brief History by Bryan Storm
The Coal Glen Community in
With the settlement a
school was built on the east side of the road on the corner of a farm
now owned by Jon Miller just across the fence from where Paul
Bingaman’s house is currently located. In
1873 a cemetery was started on the Jonathan Hale farm west of the
school, according to local lore Jonathan Hale’s sister was the first
grave (although there is no marker for her) Following
in 1875 a Methodist Episcopal Church was organized and built near the
cemetery. When donating the property to the Church Conference the
stipulation was made that no burials were to be made south of the steps
of the church building (which at that time would have been in the Hales
front yard). As people moved in and out of the community things changed
so in the early 1910’s the farm where the schoolhouse was located was
purchased by Samuel Bingaman. Mr. Bingaman, wanting the farm ground
where the school was located bought property across the road on the Hale
farm and donated to the township where a new schoolhouse was built. Both
the church and schoolhouses are gone now but the cemetery is still
utilized and well cared for. The
original schoolhouse was a simple frame structure about 20 x 30 feet in
size which faced west. There was one door and to the side of the door
the raised stage for the teacher with black boards (literally wide
boards painted black) running the full width of the building. There were
three windows on the south and three on the north directly opposite.
This building was later moved to Sam Bingaman’s farm and used
for a granary and is now gone.
The “new” schoolhouse was a simple square building
approximately 28 x 28 feet with an attached vestibule complete with
swinging door. This building had its one door face the east with six
widows; three on the north and three on the south. This building was
outfitted with wainscoting, pressed tin ceilings, slate blackboard.
Some of the known teachers at Coal Glen were: Frank Crawford,
Victoria Swanson, Fred Kenney, Cora McKinley, Elizabeth Peters, Carolyn
Lynnville, Naomi Walker, Doris Heston, Dorothy Lenzine; Virginia
Pearson, Fern Bingaman The
original Coal Glen church was a log cabin just east of where the church
building was. It is assumed that it was the original Jonathan Hale
cabin. The church building erected in 1875 was a large single room
approximately 20 x 30 feet. It faced south with two doors, one for men,
one for women, with fanlights above for light. There were three widows
on the east wall and three directly opposite on the west wall all with
fanlights in the Italianate style. On the north wall was a raised stage
which curved outward toward the seating area. Directly in the middle of
the room was a stove used for heating and the pipe run up through the
vaulted ceiling to a brick chimney. The original pews were simple pine
later replaced by ornate oak and iron ones. This building was raised in
1991 after vandalism had destroyed much of it.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|