Soper's Schoolhouse

This schoolhouse was built in 1912 to serve students from School Section #13 of the historic Kitley Township, which encompassed the area around Frankville. It is believed that the first schoolhouse built for this area was a log cabin constructed on this site in the 1820s. The property at that time was owned by the Otterman family, and the school was originally named Otterman’s School after them. Sometime around 1850 the log cabin was replaced by a stone building and the name was changed to Soper’s School after Levi Soper, who had since purchased the property from the Ottermans. The section of Soper’s property the school was on was eventually severed from the rest of his homestead and deeded over to the local School Section Board.

In 1912 the stone schoolhouse caught fire and was completely destroyed, however a new building, the one still standing today, was quickly constructed before the year ended. The building was constructed of square cut stone that was taken from a nearby quarry, and the inside was finished with white plaster. During the school’s operation, average attendance was 25-30 children, but by the 1960s attendance had significantly dropped to only 12 students, and the school was closed.