Vernon Historical Society

Promoting activities relating to the history of Vernon Township, New Jersey.

Prices Switch Schoolhouse

The one-room Price’s Switch Schoolhouse was built in 1840. The school was originally located on Route 94, a quarter mile north of Price’s Switch Road. In 1883, the schoolhouse was moved to Price’s Switch Road. At the new location the school was enlarged twice, adding six feet each time for coat rooms. The schoolhouse ceased operation on June 20, 1958. It was the last one-room school to operate in Vernon Township. Today it is maintained by the Vernon Township Historical Society. Each year, hundreds of school children and others get a glimpse of the school life of yesteryear when they visit the one-room schoolhouse as part of the Society’s  education program. The schoolhouse is pretty much the same today as it was when first built. Lois Scordato, a Society trustee and the co-director of the education program, attended the one-room schoolhouse, as did Society trustee Dan Kadish. Bertha Compton, Beatrice Masker, and Jane Gilman were teachers at the Price’s Switch School.

  • Price’s Switch Schoolhouse, ca. 1840
  • The students in this 1949 class at the one-room Price’s Switch Schoolhouse are Arnold Lazier, Robert LeMay, and Kenneth Predmore in the first row; Marie Lemay, Jean Predmore, Kennan Kadish, Barbara House, and Daniel Kadish in the middle row; and William Predmore, Judy Planson, Shirley Cooper, and Betty Cooper in the last row by the chalkboard. The teacher is Mrs. Price.
  • While the class studies during a typical day at the school, Mrs. Price makes sure that each pupil in turn receives as much individual attention as possible.
  • Above, a group of people are visiting the one-room schoolhouse in 2005 during the Historical Society’s annual “Back to School at Price’s Switch Schoolhouse” Program. Lois Scordato, who was a student at the one-room schoolhouse, is on the farthest right, in the front, by the window. In front, to the right of the stove is Percy Storms, another student who attended the Price’s Switch School. Except for fresh paint, the inside of the schoolhouse, the desks, chalkboard, and pot-bellied stove, is completely intact pretty much as it was in 1958.
  • ociety Trustee Lois Scordato, left, and beloved late trustee Myrtle Hanke, right, tell children what school was like at Price’s Switch.