Last Updated on July 30, 2025 by Colby Droscher
A hundred years ago, going to school looked very different from what we know today. Many classrooms were small, often housed in one-room buildings where one teacher taught multiple grade levels. Life was simpler in some ways, but education required a great deal of focus, patience, and hard work.
There’s a quiet determination in the faces of the students, and a sense of pride in their learning, even without modern tools. These photos aren’t just a look at old buildings and black-and-white clothes, they’re a reminder of how generations before us learned, grew, and laid the groundwork for the schools we know today. Here are 20 vintage photos that show what school looked like 100 years ago.
1. Getting a ride on the school bus in 1925
2. A rural K-12 school, mid-1920s
3. Two siblings school photos, 1925
4. “My Great Grandma’s elementary school class photo, 1924”
5. “My grandfathers old school hockey team, 1925”
6. A middle school class photo from Romania, 1925
7. “My dad on the school fire escape, 1925”
8. A high school girls rifle team, 1925
9. Playgrounds were dangerous in the 1920s
10. School trips to the zoo were way cooler 100 years ago
11. Heels don’t seem like the most ideal athletic footwear, 1920s
12. School uniforms from mid 1920s China
13. A class photo from Missouri, 1920s
14. A high school grad with a lab coat signed by all of his classmates, mid 1920s
15. All dressed up for a high school dance, 1920s
16. At the school nurse in 1925
17. On a ski trip for physical education class, 1925
18. In 1925, home economics class was just for women
19. Middle school boys in shop class in the mid 1920s
20. A mountain school in Kentucky, 1920s
Want to see more vintage school content?
Check out 20 Vintage Photos Of What School Looked Like In The 1930s, or take a look at 20 Things Kids Did After School In the ’70s That Aren’t Common Anymore. Finally, if you want to see what classrooms looked like in the ’50s, check out 20 Vintage Photos Of What Classrooms Looked Like In The 1950s.
