Woman's Club project puts new roof on Old Schoolhouse
Hard work and generous donations have helped preserve history in Plains as the oldest schoolhouse in Sanders County has a new roof.
Nearly two dozen volunteers began the task of replacing the roof of the Old Schoolhouse in Plains May 22, with eight men spending their time on the roof with many more doing other tasks, providing meals, coffee and snacks. Nearly two weeks of work later, the old shingles had been removed and a new set of cedar shingles had been installed.
“We are very grateful for the help we received from the eight men who went up on that roof,” Woman’s Club member and project coordinator Ellen Childress said. “Only two of them have wives in the club, the rest just like doing projects and doing jobs when there are jobs that need doing. They put in a lot of hard work in hot conditions up on that roof and they got the job done.”
According to Childress, the project started after her husband, Marc, noticed the condition of the roof and suggested that it be replaced.
After consulting several experts, the Woman’s Club began planning for the project. A $4,000 donation from the Montana History Foundation in April helped get the project up and running, but additional donations of time, money and labor helped make the new roof a reality.
According to Childress, the first donation for the project was $5 and came from a person who was passing through town and thought the restoration project was a great idea. More donations quickly came in, including a very generous one in memory of Woman’s Club member Gertrude Vacura Bryce.
Also according to Childress, the project cost more than $15,000 in total, including a materials cost of $3,577 with and additional $3,300 worth of materials and equipment being donated. Meals and volunteer support from the Woman’s Club members totaled more than $1,400 and approximately $7,500 worth of labor was donated.
Retired Forest Service preservation team leader Kirby Matthew made the long trip from Deer Lodge to help with the project, donating his labor along with the use of his scaffolding equipment.
The City of Plains provided site security and the use of a port-a-potty while Superintendent Thom Chisholm and the Plains School donated the use of security fencing, ladders and shingle tools. Use of scaffolding, hand tools and protective equipment was donated by the volunteers and meals were provided by members of the Woman’s Club.
Childress says the Woman’s Club is planning several more restoration projects for the schoolhouse, including redoing the daubing, oiling the logs and refurbishing the window panes. The group also hopes to get period doors and hardware to replace the current doors, which are not original to the building. The club also hopes to gather stories to help create more interpretive displays at the site.
The Schoolhouse, which was originally located on what is now Airport Road, was originally built between 1884 and 1886, according to Childress. The residents of the town of Plains helped construct the building, with the project taking less than a week. All of the logs used to construct the schoolhouse were hewn by hand and the axe marks are still visible.
The Schoolhouse was moved to its current location in 1977.
“One of the alumni groups decided that it should be moved because it was being used as a storage shed and a granary. It just wasn’t being taken care of,” Childress said. “The Bicentennial commission gave a grant in 1976 to move it to its current location.”
The Plains Woman’s Club has been maintaining the structure ever since.
“By preserving this schoolhouse, we are keeping a connection with the past and the cultural background of this valley,” Childress said.
According to Childress, the volunteers on the project included Les Carpenter, Marc Childress, Tom Collins, Rob Seli, Brad Stacey, Marvin Tanner, Cheri Seli, Kirby Matthew, Kay Nygaard, NiIta Dykes , Shirley King, Debbie Heckman, Gretchen Billings, Shirley Nettleton, Jo Carpenter, Nora Verporton, Lee Ann Hafner, Anita Mitchell, Anna Sparks and herself.