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The Minersville Area Alumni Association is an organization that was started approximately two years ago and was founded to promote social events... ( More)
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During the early history ot the region when Reilly Township was yet a part of Branch township, some private and public schools were established. The first public school was held in a small house near what was once known as the Cross Keys Hotel. This school was opened about 1841 or 1842. The first building erected for school purposes was built about 1852, on the south side of the public road and about one hundred and fifty yards west of the Black Horse Hotel.
Soon after the organization of Reilly Townahip as a seperate unit of government, one of the first acts was to provide additional schools. The first meeting of the school board In Reilly Township was held in August, 1857.
The attendance at some of the first schools established in the township was as follows: Black Horse, 35 pupils; Swatara, 66 pupils: New Mines, 118 pupils; Muddy Branch, 20 pupils. The salary for teachers at these early schools was $35 per month.
A new school was erected in Newtown and opened in 1864. At this time a half-day's session was held on Saturday. The land was acquired from the Patterson Estate, and was the only tract for which the school board had a clear deed. The other schools were built on land owned by the coal companies.
A new school was erected in Branchdale in 1867 and completed in 1868, at a cost of $1300. The school board received its first state appropriation on October 8,1868 in the amount d $205.50 and salaries were Increased to $60 per month.
Newtown school burned down in August, 1879, and the board took immediate steps to build a new one. While the new school was being built some pupils were sent to Swatara, and others were sent to a large room in an inn rented from Martin Zerbe.
Maps and globes were introduced in township schools for the first time In 1881 and Webster's Unabridged Dictionary in 1882. A course of study was received from County School Superintendent Weiss which was put into effect in September, 1883.
It was decided to build a new school house In New Mines in 1883. There was even a night school in the township which opened in October, 1885 and lasted a short time. Slate blackboards appeared in the schools in 1886.
The foundation for a new school In Blackwood was laid In 1889 and completed In 1890. Later another room was added making it a three room building.
In 1896 some of the higher branches of studies were introduced into the schools, even though no central high school was established until 1907. The various studies introduced in 1896 were Algebra, Latin, Literature, Georgraphy, Civics and some Bookkeeping.
When the high school was erected in Branchdale in 1907 it consisted of two rooms and cost $2750. The steam heating plant installed at this time cost $807. The pupils from Newtown and Swatara went to the high school in Branchdale by way of the stage coach which ran between Tremont and Minersville.
In 1916 the Newtown school burned down and a new brick building was erected in 1916-17. While this building was being completed the students from Newtown were housed in one of the rooms of the Swatara school and in the basement of the Sacred Heart Church in Newtown.
During the flu epidemic of 1918 the schools of the township were closed for six weeks.
Due to increased enrollment and the adoption of a three-year course, the Board of Education decided in 1923 to build a modern high school. The architect for the building was F.X. Reilly of Pottsville and the contractor was Gordon Nagle of Cressona.
The building contained ten classrooms, six on the upper floor and four on the lower floor with an art room, shop area, supply rooms, showers and even a swimming pool - a very modern innovation for that area.
The school grounds were beautified in 1926 by covering the creek channel on the south side of the school with cement, creating a town landmark known as "the boulevard".
A modern school library and science depratment were added and in 1929 the Branchdale Citizens' Band donated 39 musical instruments to the music department.
A parochial school was started by St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in 1925 and finished in 1926 under the leadership of Father Cornelius O'Brien. While the school was being constructed, the Sisters of St. Joseph who came from Philadelphia, taught in the A.O.H. Hall. The school is a two story building with four classrooms on the second floor (housing grades one through eight) and an auditorium on the first floor.
In 1928 Swatara school was closed and the students were transported to Newtown. In 1933 the Blackwood school was closed and in 1934 the New Mines school was closed.
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