The Somerset School was a one-room schoolhouse in Brady Township. The building’s history was outlined in a book entitled, “The One-Room School — Lycoming County’s Legacy” by The Junior League of Williamsport.

The schoolhouse was one of three that once educated the children in Brady Township.

Brady Township was established in 1855, and it was taken from land that had previously belonged to Washington Township, which had been founded in 1785, according to the book “The History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania”, edited by John F. Meginness.

Established in 1799, the first school building in what is now the Montgomery area was constructed as the result of free labor. The building was built from round logs. It had an open fireplace for heat and windows that were made from oiled paper.

Only children who were able to afford the tuition of $1.50 for a three-month school term could be educated there, according to “The One-Room School.”

The book further noted that the original log school building fell into disuse with the construction of three separate school houses. One was the Somerset School, located near the south east portion of Brady Township.

Joan Wheal-Blank’s book “Around Montgomery” notes that it was built close to what is currently Montgomery Pike on Route 15.

Late in the year 1900, the Williamsport Sun published the following announcement in a Montgomery column on Dec. 4, 1900, “The Sommerset [sic] school will hold a shadow social in their school house on Saturday evening, Dec. 15. Everybody, old or young, is cordially invited. Miss Lula Tyson is teacher. The proceeds are for the benefit of a library for the school.”

Shadow socials were fundraising events that first gained popularity in America in the late 1800s and lasted until the 1920s.

The ladies who participated would prepare meals and pack them up in boxes and take them to the event venue. The ladies would then be taken to a location in a separate room.

The doorway would be covered with a sheet, and each lady would stand behind the curtain one by one as a light was placed behind her. The men in the main area would bid on the shadows.

The winning bidder would then get to share the box meal with the lady who prepared it, according to the Prairie Public Newsroom.

At the time of shadow social, 35 students were enrolled in Somerset School, according to a school report published in the Williamsport Sun on Dec. 3, 1900.

“The One-Room School” recorded that the Somerset School continued to educate students until 1942, as did the Stone School, which was one of the other three Brady Township schools.

It stated both schools were likely closed as part of the ordinance in White Deer Valley during World War II.

The Stone School was built on land that was confiscated, and in 1942 it was torn down, according to the book, “Alvira and the Ordnance: An American Dream . . . Denied” by Stephen C. Huddy and Paul C. Metzger.

“The One-Room School” was published in 1980, and at that time the Somerset school building was still standing and used to house a business. The book also states that the third Brady Township school was the Oak Grove School, which closed in 1958.

The Oak Grove School would eventually become the Oak Grove Community Center, which is in the Maple Hill section of Elimsport.