Common School No. 10
Why it's listed
Common School No. 10 is a one-room frame schoolhouse on Upper Cherrytown (Palentown) Road near Accord, in the town of Rochester, Ulster County. Carpenter Horace Dymond built it around 1870 on land donated by his brother, and it served the Accord school district until 1955, when the district merged into the Rondout Central School District. The building has a fieldstone foundation, clapboard siding, a gable roof and an open belfry that still holds its original bell and pulley system. Inside, a vestibule and cloakroom lead to a single classroom with a large chalkboard and beaded board walls. A shed, a privy and a hand pump survive on the lot. The school was listed because it is a well-preserved example of a once-common rural building type. It follows layouts promoted by educational reformers and recalls the expansion of free public schooling in New York after tuition charges ended in 1867. The town now uses it for public meetings and elections.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the school is an exceptionally intact example of the modest frame schoolhouses built in rural New York after the Civil War. It reflects the growth of public education after tuition rate bills were abolished in 1867. It also follows the plan and features favored by mid-nineteenth-century educational reformers, such as a vestibule, multiple windows and a prominent belfry.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 88001439, listed September 15, 1988. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Northside of Upper Cherrytown Rd., Accord |
|---|---|
| County | Ulster County |
| Listed | September 15, 1988 |
| Reference number | 88001439 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Horace Dymond (builder) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Education, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Owned by the town of Rochester and used for local public meetings and as a polling place; it ceased to operate as a school in 1955. |
| Acreage | 0.3 |
| Coordinates | 41.87971, -74.32121 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 88001439.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5153466
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.