Denville Historical Society
Second Union School
The Blue Tour
Saturday, October 3, 2026
11am to 4pm
Denville Historical Society
Second Union School
For information on events, click on the website below:
https://www.denvillemuseum.org/
Before the American Revolution, the southern part of Denville, then part of Hanover Township, consisted of the villages of Franklin and Ninkey that were associated with operating forges. At the time, these villages had enough residents to support their own schools, but by the end of the War of 1812, the forges went out of operation and the adjoining communities began to dwindle. On May 23, 1816, the Trustees of the "Franklin and Ninkey School" purchased the schoolhouse lot, to establish one school for the education of the children from both villages. The new one-room stone school at Union was used for both the public and religious education needs of the community. Sunday religious services were also held at the Union Schoolhouse. The first Schoolhouse served the area for 40 years; but by 1857 discussions began about replacing it with a newer, larger building. The first vote for that purpose failed in 1859. Within the year, the community would be forced to take action; an arsonist burned the orginal Schoolhouse to the ground between May 16th and June 18th 1860. The current one-room schoolhouse was constructed throughout the rest of 1860. It was ready to open for the January 1861 term and served the educational needs of the area until the end of 1907. The building is administered by the Denville Historical Society & Museum which was established in 1971 to preserve Denville's history.
