Middlefield District No. 1 School

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1907.

From the record

“Middlefield District No. 1 School is a historic school building located at Cooperstown in Otsego County, New York. It was built in 1875, and is a two-story clapboard, frame building set on a fieldstone foundation with a rear frame ell.”
Wikipedia article Middlefield District No. 1 School, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 79 National Register listings published here for Otsego County · listed in 1987 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. CR 35, Cooperstown, 13450
When was it listed? August 1987
Category. building
Town. Middlefield town
National Register reference number. 87001363 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

29 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 29 fires within 5 miles of Middlefield District No. 1 School between 1994 and 2019, burning about 57 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	14
Debris and open burning	4
Natural	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	3
Arson/incendiarism	2
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Smoking	1
Railroad operations and maintenance	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
22 September 2016	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
24 July 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
2 July 2004	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
21 May 2017	Natural	3.1 acres	Fire Department of New York	N/A
20 May 2016	Misuse of fire by a minor	1.5 acres	Fire Department of New York	N/A
14 May 2015	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
1 May 2015	Arson/incendiarism	1.3 acres	Fire Department of New York	NA
9 April 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.2 acres	Fire Department of New York	not named

Every fire recorded in Otsego County

Storms near this property

39 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cooperstown, the town this property stands in, in 39 storm reports between 1993 and 2023: 24 thunderstorm wind, 12 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado. The reports record 1 death and 15 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	1 killed, 5 hurt, $100,000	Severe thunderstorms moved across the county during the afternoon. Trees and wires were blown down in Cooperstown and Laurens between 4:30 and 4:35 pm EDT. Numerous trees and wires were also downed by the wind in Schenevus at 4:45 pm and Oneonta at 4:50 pm EDT. Transmission towers and large signs were also toppled in Oneonta. Numerous roads were blocked due to the downed trees and many of them were closed for several hours. In Oneonta, a 32 year old man was struck and killed by a large tree limb. Several additonal injuries were sustained from flying debris.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	10 hurt, $125,000	Severe thunderstorms produced widespread damage across the county. Trees and wires were blown down in Cooperstown and northern Burlington Flats between 3:30 and 3:40 pm EDT. Several roads were blocked due to the downed trees and wires. People were trapped in their vehicles by falling trees and some sustained injury from flying debris, broken glass, or falling wires.
August 2011	Flash Flood	Cooperstown	$100,000	Flash flooding reported in many locations around Otsego county. At least 8 roads closed due to flooding.
June 2013	Flash Flood	Cooperstown	$50,000	Water was flooding over most streets in the village. Some roads washed out.
August 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$50,000	no account filed
May 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$15,000	no account filed
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and wires.
May 2002	Tornado (F0)	Cooperstown	$10,000	The tornado initially touched down just west of Brunner Road in Hartwick township with some minor damage to a barn. Most of the damage in this area was to a grove of hemlocks with diameters up to a foot. Most of this tree damage was twisted and lying in several directions. The damage was consistent with F0 intensity which has winds between 40 and 72 mph. The tornado then tracked due east across the hillside parallel and north of Old Kinney Road. This is where the most significant tree damage was observed. Numerous trees were snapped off and uprooted in several directions. Most of the tree diameters ranged from 6 inches to 18 inches. The tornado then tracked across a swamp with lesser tree damage noted. There were two more areas with minor tree damage along the path of the tornado close to where it lifted in Phoenix Mills. One barn sustained some damage on Brunner Toad with some very minor damage to sone of the siding at a Ford dealership in Phoenix Mills.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$10,000	Trees and power lines were downed due to thunderstorm winds. One tree fell on a car.
September 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$10,000	The southern-most end of the derecho complex that produced major damage to the northwest of Otsego county caused relatively minor wind damage within the county over northern sections. Several trees and power lines were blown down in and around Cooperstown shortly after 230 am EDT.
July 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$10,000	no account filed
August 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$8,000	A thunderstorm moved across the region and became severe. This thunderstorm produced severe winds and knocked over trees and wires.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down multiple trees and wires around the area.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$5,000	Trees were blown down along Lake Road.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$5,000	Trees were blown down.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$5,000	Trees blown down by thunderstorm winds.
September 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$5,000	Trees down in Cooperstown and Oneonta. 3,200 electric customers were without power.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$5,000	Trees and wires down.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$3,500	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a tree and wires onto a vehicle near Elm and Delaware Streets.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$2,000	A severe thunderstorm produced severe winds as it moved across the area. The thunderstorm resulted in a few trees being knocked over at Otsego Lake.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$2,000	Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and power lines in and around Cooperstown.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$2,000	Trees down in the northern part of the county
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$2,000	Thunderstorm winds downed trees.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$2,000	Thunderstorm winds downed several trees and wires.
November 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$2,000	Thunderstorm winds downed isolated trees and wires.
September 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a tree onto wires on County Road 31.
July 1995	Hail	Cooperstown	$1,000	no account filed
April 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Cooperstown	$500	no account filed
May 2010	Hail	Cooperstown	-	Hail lasted for five minutes.
June 2008	Hail	Cooperstown	-	Penny size hail was also reported with this storm.
May 2004	Hail	Cooperstown	-	0.75 inch hail.
July 2023	Hail	Cooperstown	-	no account filed
August 2012	Hail	Cooperstown	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Cooperstown	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Cooperstown	-	no account filed
September 2006	Hail	Cooperstown	-	no account filed
May 2006	Hail	Cooperstown	-	no account filed
July 2005	Hail	Cooperstown	-	no account filed
August 1996	Hail	Cooperstown	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Otsego County

Maps showing this location

9 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1907 USGS Cooperstown quadrangle1:62500
1909 USGS Cooperstown quadrangle1:62500 - 6 printings
1943 USGS Westford quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1945 USGS Westford quadrangle1:31680
1948 USGS Binghamton quadrangle1:250000
1950 USGS Binghamton quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1958 USGS Binghamton quadrangle1:250000
1963 USGS Binghamton quadrangle1:250000
1985 USGS Amsterdam quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Middlefield Hamlet Historic District	0.6 miles	1985
Benjamin D. North House	1.0 miles	1985
Roseboom Historic District	4.5 miles	1998
US Post Office-Cooperstown	4.8 miles	1988
Cooperstown Historic District	5.0 miles	1980
Otsego County Courthouse	5.2 miles	1972

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 87001363 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Otsego County	All 79 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.