District 13

Elementary schools controlled by the state, known as “common schools,” were established in 1812. The Town of Hempstead formed 13 common school districts that year. District 13, in the geographical area known as "West Meadow" was the last district formed that year. At the time, however, District 13 included a larger area than it does today. West Meadow covered the northeast quadrant of Valley Stream. District 13 was bounded on the east by Hempstead Village, on the west by Fosters Meadows, on the north by the Hempstead Line, and on the east by East Rockaway and Lynbrook. I do not know the location of the 1812 District 13 schoolhouse. Most likely in modern-day Franklin Square or Malverne. That is my educated guess. Through the years, there was a continual shift of the boundaries as new districts were formed. 

Other local districts formed in 1812, familiar to Streamers, were: District 9, Near Rockaway (East Rockaway); District 10, The Corner (Lynbrook); District 12, Fosters Meadow (Elmont). 

Funding for the common schools came from state coffers and property taxes. If the cost of operation exceeded state and local monies, a rate bill, or tuition, was charged. While state money typically paid teacher salaries, local taxes covered schoolhouse expenses and tuition for students who were unable to afford it. Boys attended school in winter, when farm work was not in season. Girls attended school in summer, if they attended at all. 

Annual meetings were held for the election of school administrators and inspectors. Each district was required to report annually on the schools in their district. The June 1821 “Abstract of Annual Reports of Trustees of Common Schools,” from the Town of Hempstead Clerks Office, is the oldest document we have relating to District 13. 

The document reads as follows:

"Record of the returns as made out by the trustees’ school districts to the Commissioner of Common Schools in the town of Hempstead in the year 1821:

• Months taught by an approved teacher: 9
• Number of children taught: 36
• Number of children in District 13 aged five to 15 years: 128
• Money provided for the year: $58.53"

In 1853, union free schools were established by combining two or more common school districts for the purpose of operating a high school. West Meadow/District 13, however, did not become a union free school until much later. They would have to wait until 1923, the year District 13’s old Wheeler Avenue School, an eight-room wooden building (built 1905), became a union free school. More on that later. 

Let’s get back to the early 1850s, perhaps the most important decade in Valley Stream’s history! Six monumental happenings took place that decade:

1. Robert Pagan opens his general store at approximately 143 Hendrickson Avenue (where the Pagan-Fletcher Restoration, home of the Valley Stream Historical Society, stands today).
2. Ellen Pagan, Robert’s wife, opens their home to itinerant Methodist ministers for weekly prayer meetings.
3. John Watts opens the Union Hotel at 322 North Corona Avenue; where Temple Gates of Zion/Valley Stream Jewish Center, stands today.
4. Valley Stream was given an official name. Before that time, the area had various names, depending on the location: the southwest was Hungry Harbor, the northeast and parts of the northwest was Fosters Meadow, the southeast was the “area near Near Rockaway” (East Rockaway and parts of Lynbrook). Valley Stream was thus named with help from the Brooklyn Waterworks, the entity that bought all our local ponds for the purpose of supplying water to Brooklyn. The waterworks needed a proper name designation for maps and business documents.
5. Merrick Road, a toll road, opened. The road, also a byproduct of the Brooklyn Waterworks, spurred real estate transactions and population growth.
6. Lastly, 1853 was the year the first common school opened in Valley Stream proper.

In review, the general store; a house of worship; a hotel for weary travelers, itinerant preachers and school teachers; an official village name; an east/west planked road; and a school; were the building blocks, the elements that coalesced and formed Valley Stream’s first village center. 

The 1853 Valley Stream common school was located at or close to modern-day 159 Wheeler Avenue. The land was most likely donated by either William Combs, Jonas Hall, or Robert Wright ― gents that lived close by. All were trustees of the school. I am leaning towards William Combs donating the land, but I have no evidence. Just a hunch. It was common practice for well-established farmers to donate land to build schools and churches. The 1853 schoolhouse stood for about 20 years, or so. 

In 1872-3, a new two-room schoolhouse was built on the southeast corner of Wheeler Avenue (known then as Chapel Street ― Sinner’s Hope Chapel opened to the east of the two-room schoolhouse around the same time) and North Corona Avenue. 

In 1891, a new schoolhouse was built at the same location; the school was enlarged a couple of times. 

In 1895, an eight-room, 2-story clapboard school was built, complete with outhouses. 

In 1923, the eight-room schoolhouse finally became a union free school. 

In 1925, the latest Wheeler Avenue School was built ― the one that stands today. The old wooden school then became the high school. (For a short while, prior to 1925, high school classes were taught in one of Brooklyn Avenue Elementary's classrooms.) 

In 1929, Central High opened and the old wooden schoolhouse was demolished in 1930.