Historical society to put outhouse on display

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

The structure will be used for viewing and storage.

GIRARD — A little piece of history will be salvaged from the site of the new Girard High School and stored at the Barnhisel House on U.S. Route 422.

The wooden, weather-beaten structure with one window being transported to the historic Barnhisel House could be mistaken by many younger people to be a small kids playhouse, but it is in fact an outhouse dating back more than 100 years.

The Barnhisel House is a historic home in the city that was once slated for demolition, but was saved by the Girard Historical Society. It was built by the Barnhisel Family in the early 1800s.

Members of the historical society spent several hours tearing down the outhouse structure Wednesday and preparing it to be moved by numbering each piece of wood that make up the exterior walls.

“Some of the wood has to be replaced, but we saved as much as we could so we would know how to put it all back together,” said Roberta Lawrentz, historical society president.

Lawrentz estimates the outhouse structure to be about 110 years old.

Colette Chuey, historical society member, said getting the outhouse moved was done with much cooperation from the school district, which now owns the land. She said working with the schools to get the structure is appropriate because it would add to the educational benefit of young people visiting the Barnhisel House.

“We had been in constant contact with the superintendent and board members. We really wanted to get the outhouse,” she said. “We just thought it would be great to get it and place it at the Barnhisel House because they would have definitely had one.”

Chuey said the outhouse will be stored to the rear of the Barnhisel House — where an outhouse would have likely been when the home was built.

Lawrentz said the outhouse will be available for viewing at the Barnhisel House, but not for use. She said it will likely be used as a storage unit for yard tools.

There is one aspect of the outhouse that Chuey and a few other historical society members muse over: the two side-by-side toilet “seats” inside.

“Why anyone would want to go into a two-hole outhouse is just beyond me,” Chuey said.

jgoodwin@vindy.com