Norwich – Much attention and renovation funding was spent on the historic Daniel Lathrop Schoolhouse on the Norwichtown Green last year, and now a second neglected brick post-Colonial schoolhouse a short distance away will get some “me too” attention.

The 1789 East District School – similar but smaller than its Lathrop counterpart – at 365 Washington St. in the Norwichtown Historic District served as the childhood public school of some famous local figures and the workplace of a few colorful teachers.

A century later, Norwich Free Academy's Norwich Arts School used it as a studio and workshop, NFA spokesman Geoffrey Serra said. It also became home to art-themed costume parties hosted by Ozias and Hannah Dodge. Ozias was director of the Norwich Art School from 1897-1910, and his wife, Hannah was later director of the Slater Memorial Museum at NFA. Students and adults in the Art Students' Association also used the schoolhouse at the turn of the 20th century, Serra said.

The Society of the Founders leased the building for a time with plans for a museum, city Historian Dale Plummer said. A weathered wooden sign says: “Historical Museum, Former East District School. 1789.” An undated plaque credited the Connecticut Historical Commission for a restoration grant.

After that, the building fell silent and forgotten.

Last fall, resident Denison Gibbs asked city officials if he could use the building as the home for the Forgotten Founders, a group formed by the late William Stanley to recognize post-Revolutionary War presidents under the Articles of Confederation.

But Gibbs opened the door in January and found a sagging wooden entrance floor and mold on the walls. He alerted city officials, and said he was pleased with their swift response.

Public Works Director Ryan Thompson said the damage can be repaired relatively inexpensively, for about $15,000, including about $5,000 to hire a contractor to clean the mold. Public Works crews will fix the gutters and make minor repairs, and he will use building maintenance funds to remove the mold.

Thompson plans to apply for grants for the bigger repairs, but said if necessary, the Public Works Department budget could cover the work. The building has electricity and heat vents but no furnace.

A large stone slab at the rear wall likely once supported the “capacious fire-place” described in Mary B. Perkins' 1895 book “Old Houses of the Ancient Town of Norwich.” Thomas Leffingwell paid the 6 pounds to his father, Thomas Leffingwell IV, for the land to build the school, Perkins wrote.

In 1795, 4-year-old Lydia Huntley started her education at the East District School. Lydia Huntley Sigourney became a nationally famous poet and essayist dubbed “the Sweet Singer of Hartford.” Perkins relayed Sigourney's memories of her first teacher, a black-clad intimidating woman with a powerful voice. Her first male teacher taught handwriting by ordering students to fill large sheets of paper, often using poems selected by young Huntley, a favorite student.

Student John T. Wait told Perkins his 1815 teacher, Dyar Harris, was “addicted to naps in school-time and to taking snuff.” Harris didn't last long after parents were outraged that he recessed the entire class to the hillside behind the school to try a new gun he had purchased.

It's likely some budding Norwich seamen got their start at the East District School. In 1798, Consider Sterry opened an evening mathematics class, teaching “gentlemen who go down to the sea in ships and occupy their business on the great waters,” as Perkins quoted his advertisement, how to calculate longitude and latitude using the positions of the moon and sun.

Plummer said the East District School probably closed in the 1850s, when construction of larger neighborhood elementary schools throughout the city started.

Its use by various groups through the 20th century likely saved the building from decay, Plummer said.

“Part of the problem is when a building isn't used, it deteriorates faster,” Plummer said. “This one is not as well known, because it's off the green. It hasn't had the kind of attention as the Lathrop School.”

c.bessette@theday.com

Twitter: @Bessettetheday