Original Fort School, Lithgow Street, Winslow, 1910
Contributed by Winslow Historical Preservation CommitteeDescription
The Fort School, constructed in 1819, was a one-room school house located on the west side of Lithgow Street on the east bank of the Kennebec River in Winslow, across the street from the Winslow Congregational Church.
It served as a school through 1909. At that time, because of increasing school enrollment, a new Fort School was built on the east side of Lithgow Street, three lots south of the Congregational Church. The second Fort School school was a much larger two-room school. The second school opened in 1910.
The Daughters of the American Revolution agreed to care for the vacant original structure. In 1914-15, the school re-opened because the wooden, three-story high school on Halifax Street (then Getchell Street), burned to the ground. When the new high school was built (1915) on the same lot as the building that was destroyed by fire, the old Fort School was again closed.
On July 4, 1976, as part of the Bicentennial Celebration of the United States, the original Fort School was dedicated as a museum for the Winslow Historical Society. In April 1987, structure was washed away by severe flooding.
A stone marking the area where Benedict Arnold came ashore on his march to Quebec was later placed at the site of the original Fort School.
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