 Dawson was influenced by the American educator and reformer Henry Barnard's, 1842 book "School Architecture" In 1850 Dawson published a pamphlet entitled, "School Architecture; abridged from Barnard's School Architecture".The Mount Hanley school faithfully reflects Dawson’s principles and stands as a little-changed early example of a design which was later built in countless other Maritime communities.The school’s exterior has remained almost unchanged since 1850, with the only significant alteration being a small woodshed added in 1892.