Pine Woods School

Opened in 1892 on Schenck Street.  A bowling center parking lot now occupies the site on which the school was located.

Photo:  From the North Tonawanda History Museum Collection.

Pine Woods School class in 1923.  Back row:  Harold Smith, James Robinson, Miss Hoover (teacher), Grace Reinbolt, Donald Kohler.  Middle row:  Alice Galger, Alva Bohlman, Ruth Crance, Celia May Stall, Rose Mary Rief, Leona Krantz, unidentied.  First row:  George Roberson, Tony Jayne, Kenneth Lang, Donald Graf, Ralph Ganosky, Frank Lynch, Ralph Schroder, Nickolas Denk.  Photo:  Courtesy of George Trautman Collection

The Pine Woods School bell, manufactured in 1892, in Troy, New York, has been donated to the North Tonawanda History Museum by North Tonawanda resident Ardyth Balling. The donation was facilitated by the Museum's Founding President, Paul A. Rumbold, Jr.

In the photo, Honorary Charter Life Member Gary Franklin and friend spend their lunch hour moving the bell safely into Museum offices at 314 Oliver Street.

Pine Woods School opened on Schenck Street in 1892 and closed in 1973. Servicing grades kindergarten through sixth grades, the brick structure was the third oldest public school in North Tonawanda. Closed due to declining enrollment in the School District and considered too antiquated to continue operating, the school, a wonderful part of North Tonawanda's history, was lost.

The building was sold to the City in 1973 for $1 and served as a youth center for two years. In July 1973, then Common Council President Paul Balling told a group of 75 seniors that they would be temporarily housed in the Pine Woods School building until the Carousel Park Apartments were completed. The Pine Woods School building was then unused until 1983 when it was purchased for $30,000 by James Lewis, proprietor of Parkside Lanes. The school building was then demolished to make a parking lot for the bowling center.

The Pine Woods School bell was manufactured in 1892 by Clinton H. Meneely Bell Company in Troy, New York.

Mr. Balling acquired the bell and preserved it. Mrs. Balling donated the bell to the Museum.

A recent Tonawanda News article inadvertently stated that the bell “rings today in the administration building.” The bell in the Administration Building was the Goundry School bell.

To view a 10-image gallery of the Pine Woods School Bell, click HERE now.