Pike Township, Clearfield County Pennsylvania, Schools

My grandfather, Frank Whitaker, had only an eighth grade education, but was on the Pike Twp School Board for a long time. I was toward to first years of the post WW2 baby boom and attended the Chestnut Ridge one room school for second grade. Viola Irwin was our teacher for grades two to sixth. I attended the last year it was open. Next year they had the new high school built and the grades were moved into Patton building. The school was out Ridge Avenue and located near Jack Riddle's farm and adjourning the Hixson farm. The Buel and Harshberger family farms were also near there.

In my Grandmother's day, she was Mary Aletta Hays Whitaker, there was a one room school at the Eastern tip of Canada Hill or Bridgeport. This building overlooked the location of NARCO brick yard in the valley below. Bridgeport had once been a real community with shops and several houses, but burned and the businesses were never rebuilt. My Grandmother attended the grades there and so did both of her boys, my father and Uncle, Norman and Ralph Whitaker.

One room schools were not closed in the Curwensville area until I was in seventh or eighth grade which would have been about 1960. I believe that the Lumber City one room school was the last to close.

Thanks to Jean for providing the above information

My three sisters, three brothers, and I are all graduates of Evergreen School in Pike Township. It was in the southeastern corner of Pike Township and about a mile northeast of Olanta. Evergreen included grades 1 thru 8 with one teacher. The last teacher that I can recall was Mrs. Elizabeth Selfridge, a widow, who owned and lived on an adjoining farm with two sons, Robert and Richard, who also attended Evergreen. I finished there in 1941 and then graduated from Curwensville High School in 1945.

Evergreen is a one room school located about one mile northeast of Olanta in Pike Township. For many years it served the families of that area with a single teacher for eight grades of elementary schooling. Graduates had the option of going on to Clearfield High School or Curwensville High School. The school closed in 1943 and students were transferred to the Olanta elementary school. The building still stands but is vacant.

My three brothers and three sisters and I all were schooled at Evergreen and all but one continued on to graduate from Curwensville High School. The teachers in the latter years of the school were: Elizabeth Ammerman, Elizabeth Selfridge, Bernice Long, Cora McCue, Sara Long, Verna Moore, and Mirain Garrison.

If you know the name or location of any schools in the township, please please e-mail me

Pike Township Clearfield County Pennsylvania School Records

Pike Township
Clearfield County Pennsylvania
School Records