LOST MANSFIELD # 17:  THE DOG LANE SCHOOL, STORRS

In September 1890, Susan and John Dunham of Tolland sold “a piece of land on the north side of the highway known as Dog Lane” to the fourth district for a schoolhouse.  They were paid $50 for it. The Dog Lane School served the Storrs community until 1930 when the new Storrs Grammar School opened (now the Audrey Beck Municipal Center).  

Harold Weigold attended the school from 1926 to 1928 and wrote this about his experience there: “The winters in those days were colder and we had more snow than has been experienced around here recently.  The kids were bundled up when they came to school and some days it didn’t warm up enough to shed your coat.  I used to wear a sheepskin-lined coat and there were days that I didn’t take my coat off until lunchtime.  Quite often the ink in the ink wells would freeze solid.  Sometimes it was so cold that the teacher would gather us around the stove as close as possible so we could get some warmth.  We didn’t do much school work on those days.”

In the years following the school’s closure, the building served a number of purposes.  It was the Bees and Amber Tea Room, then was incorporated into the Co-op Market, and later was Edward’s Universal IGA grocery store. In its final years, it was a Bagelz sandwich shop.  The building was removed when the new Storrs Center was constructed.

This series is made possible by a Capacity Building Grant from The Last Green Valley, Inc.