Boy Scouts lend a hand to maintain historic one-room schoolhouse

SULLIVAN, Ohio – Boy Scouts turned painters? That’s what happened recently to the scouts from Wellington Troop No. 414.
Armed with scrapers, paint brushes and buckets, they scraped and painted the exterior of the Huntington Township Historical Society’s restored 1860s one-room schoolhouse.
Organized and directed by scout Ian Baker, the project was completed in just two weekends.
“It was my Eagle Scout project,” said Ian, “and more than 20 scouts showed up to help scrape and paint.”
“And an excellent job they made of it, too,” added the president of the historical society, Burt Rollin.
“We are very grateful to Ian and the scouts – and their scout master, assistant scout masters and other adult supervisors – for volunteering to help us out.”
History. The schoolhouse was built in the 1860s, soon after the close of the Civil War. It housed one of seven township schools and was in use until 1911 when the seven were consolidated and a new school building erected.
A local farmer bought the one-room building at that time, moved it to his farm, and converted it into a repair shop and tool shed.
In 2005, the building – then in great disrepair – was donated to the historical society and moved from the farm back to its original location at the Township Center.
Appeals were then made for funds to restore the building to its original condition.
“The response was overwhelming,” said Rollin.
Support. More than $30,000 dollars were raised by means of donations from many individuals, from service organizations and businesses and through grants, he explained.
“That,” he said, “and many hours of labor by our members allowed us to fully restore the classroom to how our research indicated it appeared in the 1880s. The schoolhouse is now ready to be used by teachers wanting to give their charges an 1800s school-for-a-day experience.”