Champion School

Champion School. . , The location and preservation of this one room school provides a historical and visible link to the first European settlers of this area, Quakers escaping persecution who arrived in 1681. They called this newly settled area Newton Colony located just north of Newton Creek in what is now Haddon Township, Collingswood, Oaklyn, and Fairview in Camden County. This was the first permanent English settlement in what once known as Old Gloucester County. , In 1821 the schoolhouse was built on this site which was adjacent to Quaker burial grounds. The school was a called the "Newton Union School." Ten years later, the Newton Union Society realized they had never received the deed for the property and payment had not been made. Samuel Champion, local Quaker landowner, came forward to pay the $75 for the land, and it was deeded in his name. The school then became known as the "Champion School." It was sold back to the Newton Union School Society trustees, but the name stayed associated with the school. , In 1838, the Champion School was named the first free school in Old Gloucester County. Students came from farms now within the bounds of Collingswood, Oaklyn, Woodlynne, Haddon Township, Camden and Haddon Heights. They arrived by walking, horses, and boats. They studied the 3Rs: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. There was only one teacher for students of all ages. The Champion School became part of the Haddon Township school system in 1865. , The Champion school closed in 1906 but still continued to serve the community. Some of the uses after it was no longer used as a schoolhouse were for meetings, tax collection, church services, collection site for world war two set efforts, USO site, and lastly a voting site. , In 1986, after a vandalism incident destroyed part of the back of the building, a group named "Newton Union School Society" formed to salvage and restore the property. The Champion School (also known as the Newton Union School House) was approved for the National Register for Historic Places on September 27, 1988. , Across the street from the school remains another landmark of the Newton Colony, the Friends Burial Ground. Many of the original settlers are buried here. There are also 22 Revolutionary War Veterans buried at the site and two War of 18 12 Veterans.