The site of the District No. 1 Schoolhouse in Peterborough was commemorated Friday, Oct. 18, at a ceremony on High Street. 

The Peterborough Heritage Commission celebrated the placement of a marker on the location of the school that stood there beginning in 1824. 

“Look at the date,” said commission Chairman Douglas Ward. “It was exactly 200 years ago that the schoolhouse was built here.” 

The building stood across the street from the current elementary school and was in use until 1844, according to Michelle Stahl, executive director of the Monadnock Center for History and Culture. Stahl provided background information on the school to the commission in 2019.

Following a relocation of the school from High Street to Depot Square in Peterborough, materials from the schoolhouse were incorporated into the residential structure at the site, which was known as the Harris House. After demolition of that house, in 2020, new construction by Niemela Design of Dublin used bricks from the original schoolhouse for the foundation of the house which now stands on the site. 

“The original walls of the schoolhouse were 1½ feet thick – three bricks thick,” said Caleb Neimela, whose firm created the house currently at the location. “We like incorporating history into daily life.”

The bricks from the school which are now visible in the house’s foundation were made by hand, Niemela said. 

“It’s great repurposing,” said Peterborough Select Board member Tyler Ward.