The one room school house on my parents property is the last standing one-room school house in Wabash County, Illinois. My dad bought it in 2005 from the local Ruritans Club {a civic organization for ”rural” folks} for $1. They found termites and were planning to destroy the structure and replace it with a Morton Building when DaddyBoy stepped in.
He had it moved 5 blocks to the northwest corner of his farm. DaddyBoy is pictured below standing in front of the building during the moving process.
It cost him $15,000 to move it and build the new foundation. Shortly after moving it they painted the inside, re-roofed it, installed 2 new bathrooms {one for boys and one for girls}, installed new windows, back doors, a handful of reproduction school house lights, new kitchen appliances and a new HVAC unit. The front doors, floors, kitchen and chalkboards are all original {maybe not to the original 1920s version but original to when he bought it}.
The school house now permanently sits about 100 yards behind their renovated farmhouse {from the early 1800s} and is used for family functions. The camp house below sits between the farmhouse and the school house and is their current “project” and has just been updated with new columns and energy efficient windows.
The back porch of the school house looks over the farm. The back porch was another phase of the renovation and serves as the location for the 4th of July fish fry.
In 2006, Erika & Chance had their rehearsal dinner in the school house and their wedding reception in the barn. She talks more about it in this post. It is ideal for any home maker who has just witnessed her grandchildren tear into approximately 12,756 gifts to be able to walk away from a total disaster and host family in a separate building. I think everyone needs a school house!
Every Christmas DaddyBoy serves us his specialty standing rib roast from the very unpretentious school house kitchen. This year he accompanied the roast with cauliflower timbales and brought down cheesecakes from Eli’s.
Another Christmas family tradition is BINGO. Everyone brings white elephant prizes and lots of laughs are had… especially when some gifts reappear year after year.
Most of the tables and chairs in the school house have been donated by various family members, either from their own collection or have been collected from yard sales and estate sales through the years.
DaddyBoy has already started dreaming about the next renovation phase of the school house which will include a wood burning fireplace.
I think that covers the school house!
Beautiful!!!
