Under the guidelines of the state laws of 1849 / 1850 a citizen would donate 1/4 acre of land to be used for 50 or 99 years as a school. The advantage of donating the land was to have one's children educated (there was no tax advantage as the local farmers did not pay taxes as we know them today). A school would be used until it was uninhabitable. When a school was in disrepair, another school might be built right next to an old one if the farmer/ citizen donated another parcel of land. This occurred with the Gehman School; it had previously been Wert's School (1836-1874) and Yellow School (1873-1887).

This information provided by Jack Fox, Hilltown Historical Society