Panels detail history of Riverside School District
MOOSIC — Students and visitors at Riverside Elementary East School can walk back in time, learning about the history of the Riverside School District on four panels in front of the school.
Shawn Murphy, a social studies teacher at the school teaching Pennsylvania history, and his fourth grade students researched and assembled the information for “A Walk-Along Riverside’s History.”
The panels, built by wood shop students at Riverside High School, detail the earliest schools in Moosic and Taylor, which started when immigrant families settled in the area in the late 1800s, and describe the formation of the Taylor-Moosic School District in 1961, part of a statewide effort to reduce the number of districts in the state. The district adopted its current name in 1967. The boards, installed in November and dedicated last Monday, also list each previous elementary and high school in the two boroughs.
Murphy and his students began their research in February 2023, after receiving a $1,000 educational grant in December 2022 from the Lackawanna Heritage Valley, which the district matched with an additional $1,000. He saw them as an opportunity to teach his students not only about the school district’s past but also that of other early industries in the area.
“I thought it would be nice to teach the history of our school district along with industries of the past that brought immigrant families to Taylor and Moosic,” Murphy, a 1984 graduate of the district, said.
Their research included looking through old yearbooks, history books, the internet and photographs, some provided by the Lackawanna Historical Society and older Taylor and Moosic residents. They were surprised about some of the information they learned, such as 14-year-old George Gordon teaching students in a barn in Taylor in 1820 — the earliest known school in what would become the Riverside School District
They discovered some of the schools were located where Berlew’s Hoagies, the high school football field and Greenwood Hose Company are today. They also learned the district took its name from the Lackawanna River, which separates Moosic and Taylor, and that the early schools had multiple grades in one room, taught by one teacher. With families having more children, classes were also larger.
“That was surprising to me because I didn’t know how they would do it with each grade level having to teach something different,” Nick Piasecki of Moosic, a fifth grader who did research for the panels last year, said.
The students liked learning about their district and telling future students about it. Taylor resident Branden Webb, also a fifth grader, didn’t realize there were many schools in the two boroughs before the district was formed.
“I never knew much about (the district). I just figured we always started off with three different schools but it turned out I was wrong,” he said.
Fifth grader Jocelyn Alcantar of Taylor said looking into the district’s past made her appreciate what she has today.
“It made me think, ‘wow I’m very lucky about ... how we’re living,’” she said. “Our school has a very fascinating history.”
Murphy said the boards take information that was scattered in different locations and organize it in a sequential format. They also show how laws enacted to ensure children receive an education were carried out in the area.
“I enjoyed sharing what information I had with the students and doing research with them,” he said. “I learned a few new things through the research.”
Owen Worozbyt, director of operations for the Lackawanna Heritage Valley, said the panels, one of several projects the organization has done with the district over the years, are a good educational opportunity for students.
“It was an exciting project to work on,” he said. “It’s always great to have the students doing the research and the work to learn more about the area and the history of the region.”
