Our Town Revisited: Midway School

LEWES, De. – For this week’s Our Town Revisited, local non-profits are keeping the foundation, and the legacy alive, let see how Midway is managing.

One Room, 7 grades, 20 students

That’s what the average teacher had to manage until the late 1930s. Marcos Salaverria is the Director of Education for Historic Lewes, which is also known as the Lewes Historical Society.

“Welcome to the Midway School House #178 constructed in 1898 and in operation as a school until 1937. This building was once located literally “midway” between Lewes and Rehoboth at the Presbyterian Church still located on Route 1 today.”

He’s been with them for the past 10 years and says keeping this history alive is important, so they even made a few updates to better educate. “When this building first opened none of the historic desks were here, and while they’re not original to this area, they are original to the era in which students would have learned.”

Bigger Picture

The Lewes Historical Society preserves the cultural enrichment of the region, when it comes to the Midway School. Salaverria says it only tells part of the story, and that’s where they come in.

“During its operation this was the “white’s only” school and the panels that have come in and recently been installed expand that story for a richer and fuller view of Lewes when you did have the student’s “of Color” in 1901 at a separate location just down the street.”

Preservation

Ryan Schwartz is the Director of Interpretation for Historic Lewes. He says there’s a lot to learn from this historic landmark and it looks a lot different than when they took charge in 1999 after purchasing it from a local farmer Earnest Magee.

“He used it as a storage unit on his farm until the Magee family made it available to us here at Historic Lewes in 1999. It was moved here and opened in 2000 basically as just an empty room.”

Today over 2,000 students come by every year to visit the one- room school to understand how children learned at that time. They hope many come by and can appreciate this point and time in history.

The Lewes Historical Society doesn’t just care for the Midway school, but 9 others including the Cannibal House Museum on Front Street. They say they will have many events for their 25-year anniversary and if you want more information, you can check out their website.