Spring Garden's Hess School is seen after it was renovated into a private residence in the 1950s. The family of Col. William Beckner, prominent local Civil Defense coordinator during World War II, occupied the former Rathton Road schoolhouse at that time. (See additional photo below.) Background posts: Plaques offer historic insight into 'The Swamp,' before Sovereign Bank Stadium drained it and How one York County school district emerged from 1950s merger and One-room school reunions preserve educational culture of thousands of York countians.
York Town Square reader JoAnne Everhart appears to have answered the question of why the former Hess School in the 400 block of Rathton Road ceased to operate as a school.
Martin Beckner, who lived in the school after it became a private residence, had wondered what happened to the school between 1926 and 1936, the year it was renovated.
The short answer, according to Joanne Everhart: When the Springdale area was consolidated into York City, Hess School students started attending Jackson Elementary.
Here's Joanne's excerpted response, which includes wonderful insight about the lives of students in those days:
