100 Objects
Pewter greatcoat button
“The state of public morals calls for it,” Wolf said, “and the security and stability of the individual privileges which we have inherited from our ancestors requires our immediate attention to it.” These were the words of Pennsylvania Gov. George Wolf in his address to the state Legislature in 1831 on the importance of a public education system. Wolf would go on to tell the Legislature that of the state’s 400,000 school-age children, only 150,000 were actually attending school. He felt there was a need for a free universal school system. Although many opposed the idea, this was mainly due to the need for an addition school tax to fund statewide schools. The School Act of 1834 provided for the development of a statewide school system and the construction of “one-room schoolhouses” that would become commonly in Western Pennsylvania.
By 1875, there were over 35 one-room schoolhouses in Washington County. One of those schools, Schoolhouse No. 4, became known as the Stoney Point Schoolhouse. This school was located on East Finley Drive in East Finley Township. The item shown here was found by Bryan Cunning during a survey of that site by the web series “Searchers.” This large pewter flat button would have been from a greatcoat and dates from the early 19th century. A greatcoat is a large overcoat, made of wool, often incorporating a cape to shed rain, designed to provide warmth and protection from inclement weather. The collar and cuffs could be turned out to offer further protection.
It is easy to imagine a young boy leaving his home on a cold winter day, and he puts on his greatcoat to protect him from the weather and walks to school. During a lunch break, he and his classmates are playing outside the school and he unknowingly loses a button from his coat. One hundred seventy-five years later, that button is found and now helps to tell the story of children going off to school, playing with their friends, and later returning to their homes and helping with their daily chores.
If you would like to see the episodes of “Searchers” filmed at the Stoney Point Schoolhouse, it is available at wchspa.org/searchers or it also available on YouTube.
Clay Kilgore is executive director of the Washington County Historical Society.