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There is little documentation about the schools erected under this grant. The story is that residents of the Hop Brook area built theirs in one day, using lumber measured and cut in anticipation of the grant. Probably the other four were built shortly after 1751.

The school in the Keeney Street section, of which The Keeney Schoolhouse is a replica, cannot be definitely dated. Nor are we certain when it ceased to be used as a school, was sold, and converted to a farm building.

In March 1975, the Town's Bicentennial Committee voted to restore the building and to use a site on Cheney Homestead grounds. The Manchester Historical Society agreed to furnish and equip the building.

By 1975, however, the building had deteriorated so badly that it was not possible to restore it. A replica would have to be built. Volunteer workers dismantled the old structure, saving every usable piece of lumber. Fortunately, in the usable material were a few of the plank joists, shaped by hand to a graceful curve. Fastened to these were laths holding the curved plaster ceiling. Curved ceilings were not unusual in larger buildings of the 18^th century, but few rural schoolhouses had them. New joists were cut to make the new ceiling.

The old building's framing showed that a fireplace was originally used for heat. Wood burning stoves had replaced fireplaces in many old schools and it was decided to use such a stove in this replica. The furnishings are antiques and reproductions of the types which might have been found in the old schoolhouse.

The very small size of the classroom will surprise many visitors. The small size is accounted for by the fact that travel was very difficult in early Connecticut. Roads were incredibly bad. Bridges were rarities. It was impossible for small children to walk any great distances, particularly in the snow of winter and the mud of spring. With the large families of the old days, a village of only a few houses or a small area of scattered farms required its own school.

Today the Manchester Historical Society has its "home" at 126 Cedar Street, next to Washington School, just a short half-mile from the Cheney Homestead. At one time (from 1859-1914) the building (then known as Cheney School) rested on a hill west of Pine Street and north of "School Street" (now called Cooper Hill Street). It had two school rooms on either side of a central hall with the boys' entrance on the right and the girls' entrance on the left.