In June of 1759, twenty-one citizens of Mount Holly (nine Quakers, eight Episcopalians, four of unknown religion) subscribed for twenty-five shares to buy land and build a schoolhouse. Under one master or another, school was kept for over fifty years. In 1815, the surviving heirs of the builders deeded the building to the Female Benevolent Society. These women proposed to teach "in a public school all the poor children of Mount Holly and its vicinity gratis." For the next thirty-three years, over a thousand children were taught without charge. The schoolhouse remained in the possession of the Female Benevolent Society for 136 years, until 1951, when it was presented to The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of New Jersey for preservation and restoration.

The original brick work of the front and two ends remains. It is laid in flemish bond, with headers alternating with red stetchers in a familiar South Jersey style. Research established the great size and location of the fireplace. Original shutters provided a pattern for new shutters. The arched ceiling follows the original line of the hand-hewn beams, one of which is still preserved.