The Temple Intervale School is a one-story, single-room building with a gable roof and clapboard siding. An open cupola on the roof ridge holds a bell which was rung by pulling a rope in the schoolhouse. A stove was located at the opposite end of the room, providing heat for students and the teacher. The ell and woodshed were added in the early twentieth century, likely around the time the state began requiring privies (or bathrooms) at schools. Near the base of the western Maine mountains in a rural area of Franklin County, Temple's population has never exceeded 1,000 and the school served families likely making their livings by lumbering or farming in the intervale (low-lying land on a river). In 1884 Temple was divided into at least seven small school districts each with its own small schoolhouse - all but one of the other schoolhouses were located south of the Intervale School. In this district system, a single teacher would teach multiple grade levels in the single room. Thought to be the oldest school building in the region, it closed in 1958. The Intervale School is now used and maintained by the Temple Historical Society.
Year Listed: 1985
For more information: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=d368893e-f521-4c53-9253-12f71114a2f9
https://www.townoftemple.com/history-of-the-schools-of-temple.html