Hardscrabble School was established by a vote of residents in East Windsor in 1806, who approved a warrant “to raise $66.66 to build a schoolhouse 20’ x 16.” The following year a teacher, Mrs. Capen, was hired at a salary of $1 per week. Each student was required to provide half a cord of wood, cut for the schoolhouse stove, and classes ran for two or sometimes four months a year, depending on finances. The school closed in 1920 with the opening of the central Crane school (now the Town Offices building).