In 1854, the Harford County Board of School Commissioners purchased land for the construction of Mount Horeb School, after the official establishment of public schools in Harford County on February 27, 1850.
Evidence from the board's minutes shows that the school was built on one-fourth of an acre at a cost of $600. Mount Horeb, identified as school 10, 4th Election District, had a privy and benches instead of desks. In 1865, a state assessment of schools concluded that such a rural school was "destitute of everything that looks to comfort or convenience."
While there is no record of the teachers who staffed Mount Horeb from 1854-1898, records show that repairs were made to the building in 1876 and that sixteen desks were ordered in 1880. By 1898, a new school building had been erected on the site. The dilapidated older structure was removed from the lot at a cost of $7.50.
Source -- Mt. Horeb: The Little White Schoolhouse on Little Deer Creek, by James T. Charnock
Compiled by the staff of the Harford County Public Library