Recalling short history of Salisbury High School

SALISBURY — Did you know that Salisbury had a high school?

It did, from 1929 to 1939.

The first documented mention of public schooling for the town of Salisbury was in 1743, when a schoolmaster was hired for one year.

Unlike today, when Salisbury Central School  (SCS)has two separate buildings, in 1743 there was no designated school building, and class was held in both public spaces as well as private residences.

It was not until December of 1743 that the town voted to begin construction on “a log house for the use of the school in this town, near the house of Cornelius Dutcher, in Weataug, 18 feet square and seven feet from floor to floor.”

As the 1700s continued, the town population doubled from about 1,000 to 2,000. The median age was only 16.

By 1820, the region had 14 school districts and a student population of 869. 

In 1928, Edith Scoville deeded land to the town for the construction of a school. The next year, the Salisbury High School was finished and opened for grades 7-12. This building is now the lower building of SCS. Elementary school students were still educated in district schools across the region, including Lakeville, Ore Hill, Taconic, Amesville, Lime Rock and Grove.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, these schools closed one at a time, ending with Grove in 1951.

Housatonic Valley Regional High School opened in 1939, and students from the former Salisbury High School attended class there. An addition to the old high school was proposed,  to make room for the stranded elementary school students. The upper building, which today  houses elementary grades and administrative offices,  was completed in November 1953. The new elementary and middle school complex was named Salisbury Central School.

The upper building was designed by architect Eliot Noyes. Noyes’ personal love of simplicity in form is reflected in the building’s design. He said:  “I’m going to use huge sheets of glass, as large as can physically be manufactured.”

The school won architecture awards every year for nearly a decade after its completion. In 1965, Noyes was hired again due to a need for more space to add four classrooms, a library, specialist’s offices and a small conference room and storage space.

In 1990, a town referendum vote approved the addition of two additional classrooms, a large music room, an art space and a new gymnasium and the first computer lab in Region One.