Huntington schoolhouse is now a landmark

One of the last one-room schoolhouses in the Town of Huntington will be preserved, thanks to a recently granted historic landmark classification.

The town board voted unanimously earlier this month to give the designation to the building and property known as the Old Half Hollow Schoolhouse at 5 Seaman Neck Rd. in Dix Hills.

The schoolhouse was built in 1894 and closed in 1932 when the Half Hollow and Dix Hills school districts merged.

"This gives it protection, puts it on the state registry and it's going to stay there for generations to come," said town board member Susan Berland, who sponsored the resolution.

The designation follows a recommendation by the Huntington Historic Preservation Commission, which said in a report that the property "embodies the distinguishing characteristics of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century one-room schoolhouse."

Robert Hughes, the town's historian, said there are only a handful of one-room schoolhouses remaining on Long Island, including three others in Huntington -- in Eatons Neck, West Hills and another one in Dix Hills.

"This one is special because it's actually being interpreted as a schoolhouse rather than as a private residence," Hughes said. "And [it was] apparently the last one-room schoolhouse in operation in the Town of Huntington."

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According to the preservation commission report, at the time of the 1932 merger a new school replaced three one-room schoolhouses, one in the former Dix Hills District and two in the former Half Hollow District. At the time a local publication lamented that the merger signaled "the doom of the last one-room school in the metropolitan area of Suffolk County."

The building, which had an extension added in 1952 when it was being used as a residence, will continue to be maintained by the Half Hollow Historical Association, which holds meetings and exhibits in the building.