View source for Ray Brook school



[[File:Ray%20Brook%20school.jpg|right|thumb||Ray Brook school ]] '''Address:'''

'''Old Address:''' [[Ray%20Brook%20Road|Ray Brook Road]] and [[Pendergast%20Farm%20Road|Pendergast Farm Road]]

'''Other names: '''<span style="">North Elba District No. 5

'''Year built: '''1903-1905

Mary MacKenzie, ''The Plains of Abraham'', page 179

A one-room schoolhouse existed in the hamlet of [[Ray%20Brook|Ray Brook]] in the very early days, and appears on the 1876 Gray township map of Essex County. This was not located on the site of the present school building, but on the road leading to the present federal prison off [[New%20York%20Route%2086|Route 86]]. It either burned down or was torn down. The present building on the Old Ray Brook Road, off Route 86, was built between 1903 and 1905 to accommodate the children of employees at the newly built [[New%20York%20State%20Hospital%20at%20Ray%20Brook|Ray Brook State Hospital]] for tuberculosis patients, and it was in use for many years. After it closed as a school, Ray Brook residents used the school as a community center.

It is now [November 2001] used as a residence, with many additions and improvements, but the bell tower has been<span style=""> retained so that the central core of the building still has the look of an old schoolhouse.