Poland Historical Society completes restoration of schoolhouse windows
POLAND
After months of work, a project to bring the historic Little Red School House closer to its original state is now complete.
The Poland Historical Society recently undertook an effort to restore eight windows at the one-room, red-brick schoolhouse on Center Road. The work done by Ace Lumber sought not only to repair damage to the windows, but to keep them in line with the windows the schoolhouse had when it was built in the 1800s.
“We wanted to preserve as much of the old wood parts as possible,” said society President Larry Baughman.
The building dates back to 1858, when it was built in what, at the time, was the heart of Poland Township. It was used as a schoolhouse until 1915, and then for many years served purposes ranging from a church to an event center to a voting location, Baughman said.
The historical society has maintained the building for decades, ever since the community banded together in 1979 to save it. Owned by the board of education, the building had fallen out of use and into disrepair; in response, community members formed a historical society to preserve and restore it. The historical society has an agreement with the school board in which it leases the property for $1 per year for 99 years.
That agreement requires the society to maintain the building. Also, the schoolhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a distinction that requires the building be preserved as close as possible to its original aesthetic.
The historical society began the window-restoration project early last year. The organization applied and obtained a grant from the Ohio History Connection to cover 60 percent of the project’s $10,545 cost.
“We were really fortunate,” said Baughman. “That comes from the tax write-off system they have for the state of Ohio.”
Ohioans have the option on their income-tax forms to make a contribution to Ohio History Connection.
The contractor took apart each of the eight windows and salvaged some of the historic parts, incorporating some of the wavy glass from the original panes into the finished product.
In all, eight 12-pane glass windows were restored, with 11 of 16 sashes original to 1858, according to the historical society.
Baughman hopes that such efforts will continue.
“It’s up to future generations of the historical society to preserve the building, and to continue to save it the way our previous historical society has done,” he said.