since the days of the revolution a one-room stone schoolhouse had stood on a grassy area known as the common located close to the present intersection of south orange avenue and academy street in maplewood in  this building blocked the construction of a new toll highway from newark to morristown the  "proprietors and associates" of the school met on august  of that year and resolved to erect a new school building near the site of the old one naming seven trustees to thereafter oversee the education of local children the resolution reflected "the desire of the meeting that the said school should in the future have the name of columbian school of south orange"