Criterion A: Education
Criterion C: Architecture
Period of Significance: 1868-1945
Local Level of Significance
The Goodridge Corner School in Industry, Franklin County, Maine is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of West Mills Road and Industry Road. The gable front vernacular schoolhouse is significant at the local level under Criterion A for its association with patterns of rural education and under Criterion C for its distinctive architectural characteristics of a one room rural schoolhouse. The building represents a typical form for an 1868 schoolhouse and Industry's response to evolving educational practices which were often mandated by state law. The school is an intermediary step between the often autonomous nineteenth century district system and the mid-twentieth century full consolidation of town and regional schools. The building was altered in 1917 to accommodate evolving trends in education. These alterations are significant as they occurred during the period of significance and reflect the evolution of educational best practices and the efforts of the State of Maine to enforce them. The period of significance is from the 1868 construction date to 1945 when the building was last used as a school. Of the eleven school districts that once existed in Industry, three school buildings are extant. This building retains integrity. The other two extant schoolhouses have been greatly altered in their conversion to residential use. Goodridge Corner School represents the history of education in town and reflects the evolution of one room schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.