The Aston School District #1537 was established on June 4, 1906. The name "Aston" was suggested by a local resident as they had come from Aston Ville in England. In fact most of the settlers in those early days were from England, particularly Wales. The first school board trustees were Mr. L.L. Thomas, Mr. J. Bradshaw and Mr. Fred G. Tatton (my Great, Great Grandfather). He served as secretary-treasurer for 37 years until he was well into his 80's! It was passed by the school board in July that $1000 would be borrowed to build a school house, purchase furnishings, equipment, fencing, dig a well and purchase one acre of land.
In the spring of 1907, the school was built and opened with Mr J.J. Keith as the first teacher. In the early years the school was also used for Sunday School and church services by all denominations. The school was one big room with a big cast iron heater in the center with many stove pipes held in place by wires from the ceiling. My Great, Great Grandfather and Grandmother; Frederick & Martha Tatton homesteaded 1/2 mile north of here. Martha was a caretaker in the early years, she would walk to school by 8am in winter to get the fires going for school to start at 9:30am. Frederick would bring drinking water in cream cans to fill the fountain. Aston school taught grades 1-8 and up to 40 students would be squeezed into this one room. High school grades could be taken by correspondence (if you could afford it) but most students only went to grade 8 as they were needed to work the family farm.
To entertain themselves kids would play games like rugby, anti-I-over, football, hop-scotch, prisoners base and the most popular of all..pump, pump pull-away. According to my grandfather it basically involved kids holding hands and trying to "whip" the kid and the end of the line as far as possible and they would see how many kids they could take with them. Softball (fastball) was also a popular sport. The ball field was located to the north-east of the school in the corner of the lot. My grandfather was quite a ball player and they had a very good team back in the late 30's and early 40's and won many sports days.
But one event was looked forward to more then any other, the Aston Christmas Concert. Work started a whole month before the concert with the Dads building the stage at the back of the room. The week before the moms would come with the freshly pressed stage curtain and hang it. The kids would practice, practice & practice. On concert day the school would be decorated all out with a beautiful, tall, fully decorated Christmas tree at the front near the stage. Frederick Tatton was an accomplished piano & organ player and would play the school piano for the concert. Santa would always come and the kids would get a small bag with hard candies, nuts, an apple and an orange.
The Melville School Unit took over the over all the rural schools in 1946, including Aston school. A new school was built in 1950 which is the building that stands here now. The last class to attend Aston school was in 1970 after which children were bussed to Melville. In 1971 the school was purchased by the Co-op Recreational Community Club and was used for card parties, wedding showers, family & school reunions. As people left the area membership declined until they disbanded and the school has remained unused since.
Many families that attended Aston school still have family in this area. In addition to my Great, Great Grandparents involvement with the school, my grandfather, father, aunt and many extended family received their education here. I hope you take time to visit other caches in this area and explore this history that is fading into memory.
** Information taken from Bangor & District History book as well as family stories.