In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, education in Northwest Connecticut was provided primarily in local one-or-two room schools for all grades through high school. Sharon alone had eighteen school districts, the most in the state. 

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Recognizing that local education was severely lacking in both quality and depth,

Lucille Mathews Woodward and Alice Howell of Salisbury, in 1924, promoted a concept that would provide consolidation of schools. Connecticut Rural Supervisor

William M. Teague was charged with developing a plan for regionalizing high school education. 

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Despite the advent of the Great Depression in 1929, plans for consolidation at the high school level of Canaan, Cornwall, Norfolk, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon schools continued. Norfolk later withdrew and was replaced by Kent. 

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Finally, in 1937, the General Assembly adopted House Bill 1623. This became Special Act 428 and provided that any three or more of the towns of Canaan, North Canaan, Cornwall, Kent, Salisbury or Sharon, by voting at town meetings, may establish a district known as Regional High School District Number 1 of Litchfield County. 

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The 1937 legislation at the General Assembly took place and the towns voted for high school regionalization. At an October 16, 1937 meeting, the Regional School Board (RSB) was formed.  After considerable review, the RSB selected the location for the school, the Lorch Farm in Falls Village, a site of seventy-five acres with a glacial terrace and flood plain overlooking the Housatonic River. With the house and two barns and a spectacular white oak tree, the land was purchased for the sum of $8,000.

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A total of twenty-one candidates were interviewed to design the building before

Ernest O. Sibley, a prominent architect, was selected.  At that point, building costs had risen nearly 30 percent, and it became obvious the original estimate of $200,000 would fall far short of the amount needed for construction. In April of 1938, the decision was made to apply for federal funding through the federal Public Works Administration. At the meeting of the Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) Board in July, it was announced that a grant had been approved through the P.W.A. and W.P.A.

  

Custodian John B. DuBois was the first individual hired by the HVRHS Board and

Dr. Paul W. Stoddard was selected as principal and a teacher of English. On April 16, 1939, the cornerstone was laid with a copper box containing papers and information, key to the history of the site.

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The building, of Georgian Colonial design, took advantage of the flat level of the glacial terrace, 50 feet above the flood plain of the Housatonic River where the athletic fields were to be located.

  

The historic day arrived on Monday, September 25, 1939, with the opening of the first regional high school east of the Hudson River. The 374 students arrived and were greeted by an unfinished school building and a teaching staff of eighteen. The floors were bare cement, there were no clocks, no lockers, and no bells, but the students and teachers soon adjusted.

 

As the years passed and the enrollment increased, additions were made to the original building including the construction of the auditorium, the Clarke B. Wood Vocational Agriculture Center, and improvements to the athletic fields in 1951-52.  In 1962, the gymnasium and science wing were completed and later, the academic and new vocational agriculture additions.

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Enrollment in 1979 reached its peak of 761 students while official opening enrollment figure in October 2020 was 305, sixty-nine students fewer than the initial 1939 opening. At this writing, there have been over 9,300 students graduated from New England’s first regional high school.

  

Currently, HVRHS offers a wide range of academic programs and electives that complement the educational program. Of particular note is the Agricultural Education Program that offers students training in a variety of agricultural fields, plant and animal sciences. This close relationship with surrounding communities is also evident in the Art Garage, Mahoney-Hewat Science & Technology Center, and a number of different programs involving local businesses, artisans, artists, and civic leaders.

  

Based on its natural surroundings and architectural integrity, in 2017, HVRHS was voted the Most Beautiful School in Connecticut by "Architectural Digest" magazine.

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*History summary written by Ed and Mary Kirby, October 14th, 2020. 

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