Calling Former Students, Teachers and all Special People who remember this Special Place!
Our School History is Still Alive
The Douglas Flat Schoolhouse is a well-preserved example of Greek Revival architecture popular during the Gold Rush. The building was used as a school from 1854 until 1972 and is still standing today. To encourage donations for historic preservation, the Douglas Flat Community Center seeks to reunite the kindergarten class of 1972 and any other former students still alive. DFCC hopes to record firsthand accounts of the schoolhouse's 20th Century history.
Nineteen kindergarten students with teacher on Douglas Flat Schoolhouse steps in 1971, the last class.
Our school history is still alive in these now grown-up people who attended the last class taught at the Historic Douglas Flat Schoolhouse near Murphys, in Northern California. Also inspired within the walls of this charming Gold Rush era Greek Revival building were the first students who attended around 1854! Check out the historic photos in our History section. One hundred eighteen years of public education in this classic one-room schoolhouse!
Can You Tell Us More?
Do you have fond memories of attending school or community events at the historic Douglas Flat Schoolhouse? Do you know former students or teachers? We need your stories and photographs to help preserve the 20th Century history of this 1854 Gold Rush-era one-room schoolhouse! Please share your recollections in the comments below.
Photograph of the Douglas Flat School with belfry cupola taken circa 1960’s showing the old Bermuda-style shutters, now gone but not forgotten. (Look for a future blog post on “Shuttergate”.)
A Greek Revival Monument to Public Education
Tucked away in the hills near the old mining town of Murphys, California stands a small piece of living history: the Douglas Flat Schoolhouse. This classic one-room schoolhouse first opened its doors to students in 1854, just a few years after the California Gold Rush brought an influx of mining families to the region. For over a century, generations of local children received their primary education within the wooden walls of the Douglas Flat School. There they learned reading, writing, and arithmetic, competed in spelling bees, performed in holiday programs, and played games at recess on the surrounding grounds. The Gold Rush era origins and long community history make Douglas Flat Schoolhouse a treasured landmark.
After operating for about 100 years through the Gold Rush and afterwards, the Douglas Flat School finally closed in the 1950s when attendance declined. But this wasn't the end of the schoolhouse's story. In the 1970s, it reopened briefly as a public kindergarten school near Murphys, before transitioning to use as a community event venue and meeting hall. More recently, historic preservation efforts have maintained the structure and grounds.
Record the Stories Still Alive in Memory
We need your help documenting the 20th Century history and significance of this special place. If you attended Douglas Flat School as a student, know someone who did, or took part in a play, picnic, dance, church service or other community event held there over the decades, please share your memories and photographs. Your stories will bring the schoolhouse's past to life for future generations. Please use the comment section below to preserve our California history.
DFCC is planning to host a reunion of special people connected to this special place. Do you have fond memories of attending school or events at the historic Douglas Flat Schoolhouse or do you know former students whom we could contact? Please fill out our contact form and help us keep alive the stories of this cool old building. Send info and pictures by email to DFCC1854@gmail.com or by mail to: DFCC P.O. Box 73, Douglas Flat, CA 95229.
Your donations to DFCC will help us construct a new foundation to put the building on a firm foundation for another 7 generations.