How a community came together to save this 102-year-old one-room school house

SHELLEY — In the North Bingham County Historical Park in Shelley, a one-room school house encapsules the memories of those who once attended. But the Alridge School has come to mean so much more than that. It is a symbol of how a community can come together.

The Alridge School originally stood east of Firth in Wolverine, and it housed students from 1915-1948. Besides being a place where students gathered to learn, it was also where the community gathered for events.

Over the years the old building was more or less forgotten, until some east Idahoans took it upon themselves to save it and bring it back to life.

Several years ago, Mike and Joan Winston attended a conference where they learned about another one-room school house in Oregon that had been moved and restored.

“We thought, if they could do it, we could do it,” said Joan, who is a volunteer with the historical park.

Mike, a teacher at Shelley High School, taught a Solutions class where students looked for problems to solve in the local area. Bringing the one-room school house from Wolverine to where it could be looked after and appreciated was something they grasped immediately. The teacher approached Bingham County, which donated land at the park to place the school house.

Now the problem became moving the sizeable building about 20 miles down the road. How could it be done?

A local moving company gave them a quote, Joan explained, but paying for it seemed impossible. Until the company offered to move it for free because a relative had actually attended the Alridge School and had great memories of his time there.

Then came the logistical challenges that come with transporting a building of that height; but after some calls, all of the manpower needed to hold up power lines out of the way of the building was provided free of charge. The building was moved to its new location at the historical park in 1999.

Mike and Joan’s daughter, Jacqi Sullivan, was the teacher’s aide for her dad’s class and was heavily involved in the project.

“It was a good thing we moved it when we did,” Sullivan said. “There had been some vandalism and it was not going to last. The mover told us in another two years it wouldn’t be moveable.”

While figuring out how to move the building, Sullivan and several students worked on the story side of the project. Shelley High School students found and interviewed Alridge students and compiled the stories into a book. The timing was instrumental, because back then several of the former Alridge students were still living but none of them are alive today.

“I’m so glad we got their stories before they were gone,” Sullivan said. “It’s so important that the younger generation can tie into the past.”

Once the school house was in place at the historic park, the restoration process began. The old lathe and plaster came down, and a local second grade class helped clean it up. People donated time and materials. Here and there, little by little, the work got done.

“It was slow work, and it wasn’t historically perfect, but people just kept coming,” Sullivan said.

Eagle scouts built benches, and Sullivan used old siding to create picture frames. The floor is original, and period pieces were brought in to complete the look.

Alma Reed was an Alridge student who had fond memories of the school and donated some of her homework and report cards, which are on display in the school house.

It had become a labor of love. People in the community seemed to come out of the woodwork and donate materials, time, and items to make the Alridge School into a place where people could remember the past but also celebrate what the community is today.

“It’s just a building,” Joan explained. “But it’s the stories and lives and help that gives it color and enrichment. We want to enjoy the old, while learn the lessons and transfer the skills to now.”

Since the school house found its new home, the park has filled in with other historical and replica pieces, such as a pioneer cabin, a sheepherder’s camp, a miner’s cabin, and more. The amazing thing is, it was all done by volunteers.

“This park has been built on miracles,” Joan said.

The Alridge School and surrounding historic park is available for tours and also to rent for events, such as seminars, classes, etc.

For more information, click here.