Until the 1700s most children were schooled at home by their parents in Salem County. By the early 1700s formal education was being provided by religious groups, primarily the Society of Friends at first, but then by other denominations.

As the population grew,...

Maple Avenue/Carleton School By 1948 schools were so overcrowded the Board had to rent space from the Union Presbyterian Church for the kindergarten.  A special planning commission recommended a school northeast of Penns Grove for grades K-6, another K- 6 school...

West Harmony School The school board meeting minutes on August 4, 1927 mention land and a home next to the school purchased for school purposes for $1100 from Jacob Hunt.  It is unknown if this was for West Harmony Street School or not.  In any event, West Harmony...

First Penns Grove School

The first school in Penns Grove was simply called Penns Grove School.  A one-half acre of land owned by Joseph Guest was conveyed to six trustees in 1841.  A one room wooden school house was erected on the northwest corner of Broad and...

The town outgrew its tiny one room school and in 1871 added a 4-room structure called Harmony Street School, also called the Wooden School or Gray School by many. An 1876 manuscript of Salem Schools by William Reed says “the building is a model of the class needed in...

In April 23, 1913 a news article states Penns Grove voted down a proposed bond issue of $30,000 for the erection of a new high school because the one-acre site was considered too small for 600 school children.  William A. Summerill, a former member of the board of...

Poland Building

In 1922 the school board leased from Meyer D. Poland “the large room, on the second story, on the northerly side, in the new building at the corner of Broad and Main Streets…” for two years for a sum of $750 with an option to extend for three years....

Barber Avenue School for Colored In June 1925 voters approved the purchase of a lot on Barber Avenue between Main and Harmony Streets for a new school to accommodate black children in Penns Grove.  The school was built with Works Projects Administration Funds.     In...