Bentleyville's first public schoolhouse was built about 1837 near the white gristmill and sawmill, directly across the street from this site. Funding for the structure came from an 1835 legislative appropriation of $1,315 to Somerset Township, of which Bentleyville was then a part, for the erection of the school and supplies. Accounts also recalled that when Little Pigeon Creek rose high enough to cover the stepping stones, there was no school that day because no bridge yet spanned the stream.