Clarksboro
School - renamed to the Amos J. Peaslee, Jr. Municipal Building
Photograph
by Janice Brown, 2003
The
original Clarksboro School was known to have existed in 1876 from a map published
at that time. It was located next to the Zion United Methodist
Church on King's Highway and maintained by the town of Clarksboro.
In 1894 the township residents voted to enact the East Greenwich Board of Education
and the school came under the control of the township. In 1900, a new two-story
wood frame building was constructed at the present site on Cohawkin Road. It had
four rooms with four grades in each and every room was heated with its own wood-burning
stove.
The current masonry structure was decided upon in a meeting held
on October 7,1924. Construction began soon thereafter and I.H. Davidson Jr., the
president of the Board of Education of East Greenwich, dedicated it in June 1926.
The old wood frame structure, which had been removed from the site earlier, was
sold at public auction on July 24,1926 with Samuel B. Shute as the auctioneer.
The Clarksboro School was closed in 1971. It was remodeled and, in the
fall of 1973, it became the East Greenwich municipal hall. [A local resident (who
did not leave his name) graciously gave a copy of the 1976 Township Directory
to our current Town Clerk, who passed it along to me. SEE
the 1976 East Greewich Township Directory, a listing of township committee,
department heads, etc. for 1976. This is a PDF file.]
The
municipal hall was closed in July of 2001, when a new building
to house the township government was completed in Mickleton. With
the aid of a $560,000 grant from the State of New Jersey, the
masonry structure was again remodeled. On July 10, 2003 it was
renamed the Amos J. Peaslee, Jr
Municipal Annex and dedicated for use by the East
Greenwich Ambulance Association, East Greenwich Office of
Emergency Management, and the East Greenwich Public Works Department.
--------------------------
Ghost
Research 6/4/99 at the former Municipal Building
before the renovations.
See the 2003 news article about the
dedication ceremonies as the Amos J. Peaslee Municipal Annex (jpg file).
