Riverdale School

A holiday crowd gathered here on July 4, 1895, to celebrate the dedication of the first Riverdale School, a two-room building erected by the Riverdale Park Company as part of its new streetcar suburb of Riverdale Park. Measuring 28 by 60 feet, with 12 windows and a belfry bell marking the passage of each school day, the building stood on land the developer had set aside in hopes of attracting families with young children to buy homes in the new community. The company gave the school to Prince George's County, which provided the teacher, and The Evening Star reported that local children would no longer be compelled to trudge to Hyattsville for an education. The school opened in September 1895 with Elizabeth McGee serving as teacher and principal for about 40 students, and one former pupil remembered Mrs. McGee as a short elderly woman who kept order with a memorable glare. Enrollment grew quickly enough that an assistant teacher was hired in 1898, and by 1899 the original building had been enlarged and a neighboring house was pressed into use as an annex. The school remained in use until 1919, when students moved to a larger building at the corner of Riverdale and Taylor Roads, now the site of Riverdale Elementary School, and the original building, never adapted to another purpose, was removed sometime in the 1920s.

Riverdale Park, Maryland · United States