This one room schoolhouse was built around 1843 to educate the children in this area of Mount Joy Township. At the time the school was built, the Mount Joy Borough had not yet been formed, so this area was considered the village of Richland. Richland was laid out in 122 lots by John Bartruff of Manheim in1812, and they were all sold by 1813.
In 1832, George Wolf was elected to a second term as Governor of Pennsylvania. He urged the Assembly to act to provide free public schools and they created The Free School Act of 1834. This was the foundation of Pennsylvania’s present system of free public schools.
When it was passed, individual districts were permitted to accept or reject the idea of free schools. In fact, about half of the districts turned down the idea in the beginning. Finally in 1842 the Mount Joy Township citizens passed the law that had been established eight years earlier and this schoolhouse was built.
The Borough of Mount Joy was formed in 1851 and the first borough map was created in 1858. It showed the Cemetary Road schoolhouse and 4 other one room school houses. A school board consisting of 6 men directed the activities of the five schoolhouses. They continued to do so for another twenty years until a new school was created to house all of the students. There were 56 children in the school house who transferred to the new school and the Cemetary Road Schoolhouse was sold for $125.00.
In 2011 the Mount Joy Area Historical Society purchased the property from HUD (Housing and Urban Development). Renovation Work was started in 2012 and completed in 2018. The Lancaster County Career and Technology Center students played a big role in the renovation of the old schoolhouse, along with numerous other contractors listed on a blackboard in the Schoolhouse. The Society currently uses the schoolhouse to conduct Board Meetings and monthly Programs free to the public.
~by Vera Albert
Additions by Kim Bair