History of Charlestown School

For many years a small school served the town of Charlestown. Grades one -through seven were taught in a two-room school which served the town for many years. In the 1930's and 40's the town planned for a six-room elementary school to be built in the community. The people of the town were not anxious to have most of the school population bussed elsewhere. After much planning and negotiating, the present school building was planned and built. While this school was under construction, the children were housed wherever possible. Grades 1 and 2 were in the small building. Grade 3 was housed in the firehouse and grades 4, 5, and 6 were transported to Maywood School in Perryville. Finally in the fall of 1959 the present Charlestown School was organized and opened as a six-room school. The small school was in the control of the town council; and one room was used for town meetings. The other room became the town post office. Since the original six rooms additional rooms were added on several occasions. Nine additional rooms were added to Charlestown during the first addition. Four rooms were located in an additional modular wing and the other five were portable classrooms. An additional room for Prekindergarten was completed in 1998.

The school went through a complete renovation from 2002 - 2004. The renovation doubled the size of the original school. The school was built to serve two classes of students at every grade. The construction had a kick off meeting in February 2002. The ground was broken in May 2002. The first section was completed for December 2002 and the children moved into the new addition. The second phase began January 2003. The school was completed in February of 2004. The new school was dedicated on May 2, 2004.