Positioned on top of a small hill east of the Kennebec River, the Colburn School is a modest side-gabled building and a rare example of an early brick school. It has an asymmetrical facade with the front entry placed to the left of three windows. Each window is topped with a granite lintel. The wood shingled ell was constructed to hold two privies. The school is one-room, typical of nineteenth-century rural educational buildings where one teacher taught all grades in a single space. The Town of Pittston began organizing school wards and hiring teachers as early as 1785 and by 1803 had constructed nineteen school buildings. In 1815 the Town counted ten school districts when Samuel Oakman sold a small plot of land to the Middle South School District in what was known as Colburn Town. This part of Pittston was so named because Reuben Colburn settled just to the north in 1763. The Colburn School remained in operation until 1964 and the Town bought the building in 1973. The building is now owned by the Pittston Literary and Historical Society.
Year Listed: 2000
For more information: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=e42067d6-91d7-4da2-b6e6-e7cc541d306f
https://www.pittstonmaine.org/?SEC=B8C120EB-1598-4BFB-AA99-054CDDE705E6