History of Traver Road School

  • by Olive Doty, Town Historian 

    A one-room school house was built just east of the present Traver Road Primary School in 1830. It accommodated grades one through eight and was in use until 1904, when it was replaced by a four-room school without running water or inside plumbing. Two of the four rooms were in use at first, grades one through four in one and five through eight in the other.

    Professor DuMond, a one-armed veteran of the Civil War, was principal around 1914-1915. At this time, pupils from the surrounding schools in the town traveled to Traver to take their Regents exams. In 1922, the town had grown and it was necessary to use all four rooms.

    In 1926, Harold C. Storm, who later became superintendent of the Arlington Central School District, was principal. He served as principal of Traver Road School and Arlington Grade School until 1936, seeing the schools through the consolidation that created the Arlington Central School District. 

    The first few sections of the "new" school that exists today was built in 1932-33. In September of 1933, the seventh and eighth grades were bussed from Arlington to Traver Road. Teachers rode the buses with students and lunches were brought from home because there was no cafeteria.

    Dorothy Albertson was made principal in September, 1946 after having served as teacher since September 1944. In 1947, the school had eleven full-time teachers and housed kindergarten through grade six. Mrs. Albertson served as principal until 1982, the longest tenure of any principal. She embraced the whole community and knew every child in the school by name. A special summer program has been set up in her honor.

    In order to accommodate the growing community, the second floor was added in 1938 and a new wing in 1957. Students in grades four through six were sent to West Road when it opened in 1970; and in the early 90's "temporary" modular classrooms were added to house third graders until more space was created in the district with the new high school.