Expanded Museum Exhibit Highlights Southington's Early Families, Immigrant History

A free Southington Historical Society exhibit will explore West Street School and local families from 1750 through 1945.

By Michael Lemanski, Patch Staff

Sep 30, 2026 2:07 PM EDT

A newly expanded exhibit at the Southington Historical Society will explore nearly two centuries of West Street School history, including the families and immigrant communities whose children went there. (Southington Historical Society)

SOUTHINGTON, CT — A newly expanded exhibit at the Southington Historical Society will explore nearly two centuries of West Street School history, including the families and immigrant communities whose children attended the one-room schoolhouse.

"The History of West Street School, 1750-1945 — Southington's Original Colonial One-Room Schoolhouse" will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday in October at the Southington Historical Society, 239 Main St.

Admission is free.

The expanded exhibit includes newly discovered information and additional displays about the school, which the Historical Society describes as one of the earliest schools in America.

Part of the exhibit focuses on a wave of Polish and Czech/Slovak families whose children attended West Street School during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Family names highlighted by the Historical Society include Arszyla, Borovsky, Borysewicz, Buchko, Dlugolenski, Duksa, Sepko and Smoron, among others.

Visitors can learn more about the land those families purchased and the earlier residents who owned it through "West St. Old Families," a history covering the period from 1870 to 1924.

That account was written in 1924 by Adelaide R. Pender, who had firsthand ties to the school.

According to information accompanying the exhibit, Pender was a first-grade student at West Street School in 1874 and later taught there during the 1888-89 school year.

Her family's home was on West Street near Jude Lane.

At age 55, Pender wrote "West Street Old Families — Most of Whom Are Dead or Moved Away."

The Historical Society describes it as a concise history spanning more than 50 years and documenting family arrivals and departures, births, deaths, local stories, and the arrival of Polish residents.

The October exhibit also focuses on the restoration of West Street School and the history of the building from its colonial-era beginnings through 1945.

More information about the school and exhibit is available at WestStreetSchool.org.