Schoolhouse 1880 to 1929

Parkerville Schoolhouse No. 5 was built at the corner of Carlisle Road and Route 225 in the year 1880. It occupies the same site as the 1874 schoolhouse which was lost to fire.

The Selectman were authorized to procure a plan and specifications for the new building. Estimates were received from six builders. The contract was given to Jonathan Larcom of Chelmsford as his estimate was lowest at $1,079.

Schoolhouse No. 5 was a typical one-room, one-teacher school. Here, the older pupils shared the same desk, a two-seater settee. The teacher's desk sat atop the raised platform between the front doors. The platform remains, as do the two outside doors, one of which still leads to the former boys' entryway where coats and wraps were traditionally hung. The girls' four-seater outhouse remains intact.

Parkerville Schoolhouse Class 1925

Nonset Club 1930 to 1989

Parkerville Schoolhouse No. 5 closed in 1929; the building remained vacant. In the early 1930s, when the Town of Westford wanted to sell it, the neighbors in Parker Village petitioned to use it for a clubhouse. In 1933, and for almost 60 years, an unwritten agreement allowed use of the old school as a clubhouse as long as the villagers kept it in repair.

During this time, the school was referred to as the Nonset Club. Members put in a furnace and kept the building painted. The town continued to own the schoolhouse and to insure it, but anyone was welcome to use it. Weddings, anniversary parties, meetings and the Nonset Club Wednesday night card parties kept the old school building alive with activity.

Living History 1989 to Present

In 1989, with club numbers dwindling, and in the wake of an inquiry from a party interested in converting the schoolhouse to a single-family residence, the Westford Board of Selectmen began obtaining proposals for potential use of the building. The Friends of the Parkerville Schoolhouse successfully petitioned the Town to have the schoolhouse preserved as a combination meeting place for townspeople and a living history class for local children. Officials agreed to the preservation effort on the condition that restoration costs not be borne by the Town. In the years since, the Friends have relied on the generosity of local contractors and interested individuals, as well as fund-raising efforts, to maintain and improve the building.

Of the ten district schoolhouses that flourished at the turn of the century, Parkerville Schoolhouse No. 5 is one of two still owned by the town; Cameron School, the present Senior Center, is the other. But No. 5 is the last of its kind, a classic one-room schoolhouse. The school building was included in the Parker Village Historic District under the designation of the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. In 2010 the schoolhouse was listed on the National Schoolhouse Register of the Country Schoolhouse Association of America.

Today, the schoolhouse still stands graciously on its corner location, a reminder of an earlier Westford. It continues to welcome a variety of community groups and private functions. Each spring, a new group of children enters its doors, sit in the well-worn desks and prepare to learn.