My old school

East Greenwich RI is the 8th oldest town in the state. It was founded in 1644 and incorporated in 1677. Currently (As of June 2013) the median household income is $96,591. It is #3 in Best Community ranking and #2 in schools. It was a pretty town, too, and the rural areas outside of town were fun to play in. I liked Payne's Pond across the street, summer time to catch tadpoles in the brook and winter to go skating. There was a large cemetery behind us and a small historic cemetery across the street next to the pond, both of which I enjoyed exploring.

I attended a massive and stately elementary school in East Greenwich RI. Eldredge Elementary School, opened for the first class in fall of 1929.

I remember it was large, many stairs to get to the second floor. I remember the ceilings were high and the windows were huge. The teacher needed a pole to hook into the top window to draw it down.

Source

I remember the place was loud. It had hardwood throughout and the pounding of many hundreds of feet echoed uncomfortably in the halls. The desks squeaked over the floors and the shuffle of feet even while sitting was also loud.

It was pretty. I liked the wood, the sunlight streaming in, and the absolutely monster-big playground. Actually, three playgrounds. I remember as a very small kid playing with a hula hoop. I must have been in first grade. (1966 or so).

Robert J. Smith / Time Life Pictures

Playground 1. It used to be a grassy field, not have a basketball court in it. It was lined with trees on the street side (still is) and swing sets across. I used to like standing under the tree and watch kids play tag.

 This second playground always was paved but it was not a parking lot then. It was here I used to play hula hoop.

Even though I'm grown now and I can see that the third playground fields are not as large to me as they were when I was a student, this field really IS big. There are basketball courts at the end of it. There was a penny candy store across the street from the end of the playground and we used to sneak off to buy some. I always got pumpkin seeds. They were 5 cents a box then. The teachers on duty must have been driven wild by kids leaving the recess field and wandering across the street...Sorry ladies :( The annual fairway set up here, with all the rides and carnival games.

Despite being 84 years old, the ole gal still looks pretty good.

I attended school here in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade. For Kindergarten I went to Hannaford School and in fifth grade we went to Meadowbrook. That lasted only one year. Then I was back to Eldredge. Junior High was Cole Middle School for 7-8th but that is another story!