Now & Then: Many happenings with School Heritage Building

Some milestones have been passed since December 2011, when the Pea Ridge Historical Society entered into a lease agreement with Pea Ridge schools to lease the oldest of the buildings on the downtown school campus.

The building has been known in recent years as the S.E.E.K. Building.

Earlier, Pea Ridge school students after 1964 may remember it as the Art Building, music room, High School Counselor’s office, math classroom or English classroom. It has served the school in many ways for some 90 years.

The Historical Society members have been working over the past year with the objective of developing the building as a School Heritage Building, preserving and displaying the history of the schools of Pea Ridge and working in conjunction with the Historical Society’s Museum across the street. In addition to school history, the plan has been to make the building a resource for community activities, providing a meeting place for civic clubs, family events and gatherings such as class reunions. Over the winter months, the museum and the Heritage Building have not been open on a regular schedule; but in March, they will each be open to the public on Saturdays between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Visits to the two buildings are possible on other days and other times by calling for an appointment.

We think visitrs will find that visiting both of these historical buildings will be an enlightening and enjoyable experience, whether you are a native of Pea Ridge and a former student in Pea Ridge schools, or area newcomer interested in knowing more about Pea Ridge and the surrounding community.

One of the ongoing recent projects has been to renovate the old building, which began in the 1920s, serving first as the school’s Agri-Shop building and Vocational Agriculture classroom, then becoming the school’s Hot Lunch Room from 1941 to 1964. Last fall, we engaged the BroGar Construction Co., with Gary Brown and his crew, to do restoration work on the outside of the building.

We think the results are impressive. With repairs to rafters, siding, windows, lights and decorative features, and with the building thoroughly sealed and painted, it is looking great.

We hope you will come by and see it, and come in and see the displays inside.

To cover the costs of renovating the Heritage Building, the Historical Society established a special fund at Arvest Bank of Pea Ridge, appealing to the community for donations to fund the restoration project. We want to say a hearty “thanks” for the response so far to this ongoing effort. To date, donations received to the Renovation Fund have reached just over $2,000.

The response has been very encouraging, and we are appreciative of the generosity of the donors.

A week ago, on Saturday, Feb. 16, we held a Mid-Winter Soup Supper to raise additional funds for the renovation. The turnout was great, the soups were delicious, and the crowd seemed to enjoy the evening. The soup supper raised $621, and several additional personal donations added an additional $683, for a total of $1,304 for the event. Again, many thanks to all the friends and supporters who came out for the soup supper.

Approximately 75 percent of the fundraising goal for the renovation of the Heritage Building has been reached. Our thanks to all of you who have made this progress possible, and to all who are planning to help in the coming months of 2013.

Most of the restoration work has been completed on the main meeting room, and considerable progress has been made on developing school-related historical displays, pictures, documents, and artifacts. Our focus in the coming weeks is on creating signs to go in front of the building and on the parking lot on North Curtis Ave., and on outfitting the kitchen area so it can be used for meal preparations. The kitchen addition was originally constructed about 1940 to serve the school’s new hot lunch program. About half of that addition, the part which once was pantry space and work closet area, is to become a historical library and small meeting room. The newest room, the former school counselor’s office, which was added during the administration of superintendent Roy Roe and Mrs. Wanda Roe, is to become a computer room, records room and genealogical research area.

Over the past year, the Heritage Building has become the regular meeting place for the Pea Ridge Historical Society, the Pea Ridge Lions Club, the High School Alumni Association and the Beta Alpha Sorority. Also, several class reunions, family holiday celebrations, birthday parties, and so on have been held. Call Augusta Bradley at 685-0517 to reserve meeting space.

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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.

Community, Pages 5 on 02/27/2013