Arthurdale School Buildings

On this narrow road behind the present-day West Preston school, six school buildings once stood. Today, four are still standing including the Rec Center, the High School, the school's Administration building, and the Elementary School. Use the small turn around in front of the two-story Administration Building which once housed the superintendent, the industrial cannery, the homesteaders' bank, and the cafeteria.

From 1934-1936, Elsie Ripley Clapp served as administrator of the Arthurdale School. A student of John Dewey, Clapp saw the school in Arthurdale as a great opportunity to create a community school. Students learned through hands-on activities rather than theoretical learning and undertook projects related to agriculture and construction. The students also learned about their Appalachian culture. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt donated books, money, and supplies to the school.

When the school opened in the fall of 1934, the school buildings had not been built. Determined to begin the education of the children in Arthurdale, Clapp set about placing the students in various community buildings. The elementary school held classes in the Arthur Mansion, high school students learned in the Center Hall, and the nursery school filled the space newly completed by homesteaders at the center.

In addition to the buildings not being completed, the books and supplies ordered by Clapp and her teachers, had not arrived. The teachers improvised and put their progressive teaching plans to work. Second grade learned about construction by watching the workers build the homes throughout Arthurdale and put their knowledge to practical use by building their own homestead community. Fourth grade studied pioneer life in the old Fairfax cabin. High school students combined disciplines and created surveying equipment through their math, science, and shop classes; they eventually surveyed Route 92 for their final project.

Elsie Clapp helped design the school campus, which opened in the fall of 1935 and featured a high school, cafeteria, gymnasium/auditorium, elementary school, primary school, and nursery school.

Educational advisers to the Arthurdale project included Lucy Sprague Mitchell of Bank Street College, Dean William Russell of Teachers College, Columbia University; John Dewey, Eleanor Roosevelt, Clarence Pickett, and W. Carson Ryan, a future editor of the journal Progressive Education.

From 1936 to 2000, four of the original Arthurdale school buildings were under the control of the Preston County Board of Education and used as a middle school and elementary school. In 2000, the PCBOE transferred the high school, cafeteria, and elementary school buildings to Arthurdale Heritage. 

Arthurdale Heritage, Preserving Arthurdale, WV – Eleanor Roosevelt's New Deal Community. Arthurdale Heritage Inc.. Accessed March 20, 2017. http://www.arthurdaleheritage.org/.

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Maloney, C. J. Back to the Land: Arthurdale, FDRs New Deal, and the Costs of Economic Planning. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.

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