A couple weeks ago I took The Roadqueen for a bicycle ride to visit a nearby one-room schoolhouse. This schoolhouse has appeared in a few of my blog posts because it is along a route I regularly ride. I've noticed and documented the damage caused by neglect and severe weather to the 100 year old structure and I knew its inevitable demise was drawing near but I was still saddened to see demolition underway when we arrived at the small plot of land surrounded by tall corn.
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The courses of brick were laid down three bricks wide on a foundation of sturdy sandstone blocks.
In this shot slots are visible that received the floor joists and a crawlspace ventilation grill below.
Here are a couple older photographs. The first was taken on a bike ride after I weathered a strong summer storm under its roof. About that time I decided to start seeking out these old schools and assembling them together into a theme on the blog. There was already a huge chunk of the west wall missing for who knows how long that eventually allowed in enough wind pressure during another storm to blow out the east wall. (bottom photo)
The school stood in this shape through the winter and I don't think it was just my imagination that I noticed more and more droop in the roof as I passed by on bike rides earlier this year.
Click the schoolhouse label below to visit other old schoolhouses.
Great theme, I'm in favor of going back to community based schools, where your teachers could get to know you. Nice photos too.
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