The Sachem Central School District is in the process of selling the Union Avenue School in Holbrook.
The first public school in Holbrook was erected in 1860. Funds for the building, which cost $200, were raised by popular subscription and property taxes. In 1905, the building was sold at auction and a new one was constructed on the same site.
Holbrook residents voted to resolve their common school into a Union Free School in 1924, and the present site of the Union Avenue School was chosen for its location. The school opened for instruction in September 1926, and an addition to the building was approved in 1955.
Along with Gatelot Avenue Elementary and Waverly Avenue Elementary School, Union Avenue is one of the first school houses for children in the community, long before this area was ever called Sachem.
There are a number of monuments on the property of the Union Avenue School, which has served as an elementary school, district office and home of the Sachem Central Teachers Association over the years. All of the signs and monuments will be moved to retain their significance in the community.
Here’s a look at the property and monuments now …
There was a tragic train accident in Holbrook in 1935 and a rock to remember the three victims of the incident is on the property. Alice V. Bedell, Edna M. Bedell and Robert F. Seekamp died on Dec. 20, 1935.
The Sachem Marching Band is also honored on the property with a sign noting its accomplishments of the years.
Another boulder honors men and women from the area who have served the country.
The building itself is largely in the same structural shape as it was more than 70 years ago.
For decades the building served as Sachem’s District Office before administration moved to the newly renovated wing at Samoset Middle School.
Even when the building is sold, the land and area that housed the Union Avenue School will be a place where countless memories in the Sachem Central School District were made.
-Words and photos by Chris R. Vaccaro