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The Union School & Church was established around 1735 in Dillingersville, Pa. The building shown is the fourth on the site and was built in 1885.

A typical school day often began when the teacher went to the end of the path leading to the school building ringing a bell which signaled the start of the school day. A school day started at 8:00 A.M. and concluded at 5:00 P.M. with one hour for lunch.

German was the language taught exclusively. Eight grades were conducted by one teacher in the typical one-room building. The varying sizes of desks determined the grade in which a child was placed. Dunce stools were conspicuously placed for those students not performing to the best of their ability. Silence was mandatory; disturbances were dealt with by disciplinary flogging enforced by means of a hickory switch, wooden paddle, or leather strap.

Reading, writing, arithmetic, catechism, and singing were the subjects taught. Recitation was important since paper was scarce and expensive. Chalkboards and chalk were practically non-existent in the earlier days, and books were always in short supply. For the student's efforts, after eight years, his benefits included the ability to write his name, do simple figuring of pence, shillings, and pounds, and probably being able to boast of having read five or six books, not including the Bible; proving he was no longer average.

The Horn Book was probably the first book known to many of the settlers' children. It consisted of one page about the size of an ordinary spelling book, printed on one side only and attached to a wooden paddle-like board with a handle projecting from the bottom side. The sheet of paper was held in place with a brass frame and was covered with a thin transparent sheet of horn; thus the origin of it's name. The page was prefaced with the cross, often called the 'crises-cross', followed by the small and large letters of the alphabet; vowels and single consonants, the Lord's Prayer and on some the Roman numerals one to ten.

Early church schools such as the Dillinger School had A-B-C books, at that time, printed in the German language.

Outbuildings housed the toilet facilities used both in summer and winter. Water was brought to the schoolhouse from the source ( a springhouse is located several hundred yards from this building) and dipped as needed. Wood was gathered from the land and stored in the woodbox ready to feed the pot-bellied stove to provide adequate warmth at least to those students within close range of it while the other students never became comfortably warm.

Wooden peg coat racks lined the walls with shelves above where lunch boxes or baskets and later possibly paper bags were kept until the lunch break.

Most of the teachers were men who frequently doubled as the preacher.

During the planting and harvesting seasons the older children's attendance was intermittent thereby making it imperative for perfect attendance during the earlier years.

Candles or kerosene lamps provided the source of light. A suspended wall divider made it possible to divide the one room into two distinct sections. These doors were easily retracted into the space above the ceiling.

In 1867 the organization incorporated through the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas in the name of the Union School and Church Association.

The fourth and present building is basically constructed of shaped field stone masonry, a Bangor slate roof with an octagonal spire which houses the bell in a cupola topped with a finial weathervane, typical of 18th century architecture.

Inside typical four-foot wainscot, pineboard flooring, double hung four-over-four windows simulating the Italianic influence in tall casements are to be noted.

A kerosene hanging light with nine etched glass globes directed upward toward a heavy ornate glass reflects the light and this is surrounded by a frame of copper. This beauty was donated to Dillingersville School around the time the present building was erected.

Source: Historic notes compiled by Sarmae Doney and Sandy Eck, 1976.
References: A.S .Berky's book, "Schoolhouse Near the Old Spring", The History of Lehigh County by C.C. Roberts, Schwenkfelder Library, Pennsburg, Pa.

The far wall is actually a sliding, segmented divider, hence the additional track seen in the centre right.

The total available space for the traditional tatami rooms on this floor was comprised of three adjacent, conjoined "rooms", or rather, partitions of one big room. Each partition is designed for two people. Since we were a family of three, they opened one divider to create a medium-sized partition suitable for four people. Had there been six or more people (!) booking the traditional room together, I suppose the divider shown here would've also been opened to create a room suitable for six people.