This is the story of an unusual school in the 1830s run by an eccentric visionary, who sadly failed to make a success of it.<\/p>\n

Local schools were rare in Hunterdon County before the Revolution. It wasn’t until the early 19th<\/span>\u00ac\u2020century that concerted efforts were made to establish neighborhood schools. By 1830, enthusiasm for reform movements of all kinds was running strong, including new ideas about education. Along came a young man with high ideals and ambitions. In 1831 he started up a new school on a property northwest of Sergeantsville that attempted to offer city boys a chance not only to learn Greek, Latin, and \u201a\u00c4\u00fathe usual subjects,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 but also to get their hands dirty with some real work, work that city boys were rarely exposed to. That person was Robert M. Rittenhouse, and this is the story of his life and his school.<\/p>\n

Considering how short-lived it was, Rittenhouse\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s “Mantua Manual Labour Institute” generated an enormous am\u00ac\u2260ount of interest. The first to write about it was Thomas Gordon in his Gazetteer of New Jersey published in 1834, in the section about Sergeantsville (p. 233):<\/p>\n

\u201a\u00c4\u00faSargeantsville [sic], p=t. of Amwell t-ship, Hunterdon co., . . . Near this village, on a farm of 150 acres, Mr. R. Rittenhouse has established the Mantua Manual Labour Institute, with accommodations for about 30 students, and the purpose to increase them as they may be required. At this institute are taught the Greek and Latin languages, and all other branches of learning, taught at similar institutions. About three hours every day, Saturday and Sunday excepted, are employed in manual labour, by the students, for which they receive reasonable compensation. The charge for tuition, board, washing, lodging, candles, and fuel, is $25 per quarter.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Greek and Latin languages along with three hours of manual labor. Today, a school like that would have a hard time finding pupils.<\/p>\n

In the late 19th<\/span>\u00ac\u2020century, local historians became interested. It was the subject of a paper read before the Hunterdon County Historical Soci\u00ac\u2260ety in 1890 by the Rev. W. W. Bullock. (Unfortu\u00ac\u2260nately, the paper is not now in the Society\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s possession.) In 1891, John W. Lequear wrote a story about Robert Rittenhouse in \u201a\u00c4\u00faThe Hunterdon Republican.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 The article wandered a bit, giving much information about the Rittenhouse family, and special attention to the famous astronomer David Rittenhouse of Philadelphia, but eventually providing many interesting details about Rittenhouse\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s life, which will be quoted in this article.<\/p>\n

Another author who took notice of the school was Hubert G. Schmidt, in his column in \u201a\u00c4\u00faThe Hunterdon County Democrat\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 published on October 2, 1947. He was inspired to write about the school by his discovery of a paper on file at Rutgers Library titled \u201a\u00c4\u00faBaptist Churches of New Jersey,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 which included a statement that \u201a\u00c4\u00faIn 1830 the Rittenhouse Manuel [sic] Labor School was founded at Sandy Ridge. It did good work while it lived.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 As Schmidt observed, the date was wrong, but so was the location. I suspect this reference to the school appeared in that paper about Baptist Churches because of Robert Rittenhouse\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s father, Elisha Rittenhouse, who was actively involved in the Kingwood Baptist Church.^{1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n}

Who was this Robert M. Rittenhouse?<\/h3>\n

Robert Miller Rittenhouse was born on May 3, 1801, the seventh of ten children, to Elisha Rittenhouse and Isabel Miller, hence the middle initial. The family lived close to the Wickecheoke Creek on Old Mill Road, where Elisha Rittenhouse successfully ran a milling operation.<\/p>\n

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