Smithtown, A History: Reminders of Early Schoolhouses

A  few of Smithtown’s original schoolhouses remain standing today. While the structures are now used for other purposes, they serve as reminders of our early school days and preservation efforts.

, also known as the Whitman Schoolhouse. Built in the early 1800s, the structure once sat on Main Street across from its present location on Singer Lane.

In 1816 it was bought by taxpayers and considered a public school forming the Smithtown Union Free School District. The building was moved to its current location behind Dairy Barn when a new school called The Academy was constructed in 1868.

The new school building was a result of a donation from a Captain Jonas Smith, who was a former resident of St. James. the captain donated $8,000 for education in the Smithtown school district in 1867. J. Lawrence Smith, and were in charge of the money, and the school lot was enlarged and the new schoolhouse was built.

The Academy and the structure that replaced it in the early 1900s no longer exist, even though both were reused. The Academy was relocated and used as a store, according to As for its replacement, The Smithtown Branch School, after it closed in 1925, it was used as a welfare office during the Depression and then demolished in the 1950s, according to

Another school existed in Head of the River School area, according to . It was originally located north of New Mill Road on the property of Ebenezer Blydenburgh. When Blydenburgh’s son Timothy inherited the land, he became tired of the student’s stealing his apples. The school was no longer allowed to use the lot, and the structure was moved to Meadow Road in 1880.

While it’s not known when the Head of the River School was built, according to Then & Now: Smithown, the one-room structure was used until 1922. Still standing today as a private residence on Meadow Lane, the old schoolhouse has been remodeled through the years.

The administrative offices of the Smithtown Central School district have also made use of a former school building. Once the New York Avenue School, it opened in 1925 and served first grade through twelfth grade, according to Then & Now: Smithtown. It was 1950 when it became a junior and senior high school, and from 1955 to 1959 it was called Smithtown Central High School.

The Whitman Schoolhouse, Head of the River School and the New York Avenue School are only a few examples of old schoolhouses that still exist in Smithtown. Next week we’ll explore the others that still stand in out township.