On Saturday, May 18, the Pea Ridge Historical Society will hold a special History Day observance called “If This Tree Could Talk!” The place is the Pea Ridge School Heritage Building, on the downtown Intermediate School Campus, at the corner of North Curtis Avenue and Pike Street, across the parking lot from the Historical Museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 18.
One aspect of the observance is to celebrate the service the Heritage Building has given for Pea Ridge schools across the years since the 1920s. A second aspect of the day is “Pea Ridge History Gathering.”
Since the winter of 2011-2012, Pea Ridge Historical Society has been leasing the old S.E.E.K Building from the Pea Ridge Schools, and is renovating and developing the building as the Pea Ridge School Heritage Building. Earlier generations will remember thebuilding as the School Cafeteria or “Hot Lunch Room” (1941-1964), or as the School Shop and Vocational Agriculture Classroom (1920s to 1940). Between 1964 and 2000, the building was used for a great variety of purposes, general classroom, school counselor’s office, band room, art department, and as headquarters of the S.E.E.K. school excellence program.
Some featured events on the day’s program will be showings of the old Pea Ridge Centennial video, showings of several previously recorded audio/video history interviews with Pea Ridge family members, viewing of the building’s school history displays, and hearing presentations highlighting certain periods of the building’s history.
Speakers will include Mrs.
Wanda Roe, long-time art teacher, school counselor and creative academic leader, who along with her husband, former superintendent Roy Roe, had a significant impact on advancing the scope and quality of education in Pea Ridge schools; as well as Jerry Nichols, Historical Society vice president, who will highlight points of school progress across the years.
The theme of the day, “If This Tree Could Talk,” is drawn from the great, aged tree which stands at the front corner of the Heritage Building, and has stood watch over so many significant events and developments for the school and the Pea Ridge community through passing years.
You are also invited to participate in the history-gathering activities throughout the day Saturday. The Historical Society is very interested in conducting interviews and video recordings with long-time Pea Ridge residents, to record family histories, memorable stories and memories of local events. Also, if anyone has old photographs of families, town scenes, local buildings, orchard scenes, farm scenes with horses and older machinery, or artifacts that show how life was in days gone by, please come and show and share.
Photo copying equipment will be on hand, so participants can share copies of historical family pictures and other photos for the museum while keeping the original pictures in the family’s possession.
We would also like to hear from different generations about school memories on the downtown campus.
A food booth will be open on site, and restrooms will be available nearby.
The Historical Museum will also be open across the street.
The Heritage Building has recently undergone major outside renovations, made possible by the generosity of local donors and organizations. Currently, development efforts are focusing on outfitting the kitchen and library areas of the building, and adding furnishings for dinners and seating for meetings in the main room. Several local organizations use the Heritage Building as their regular meeting places, including the Lions Club, the Alumni Association Board, the Beta Alpha Sorority, as well as the Historical Society itself. The building is available for a modest rental fee for class reunions, family reunions, birthday gatherings, and so on.
The building’s displays have recently been enhanced with the addition of large pictures of the Pea Ridge College Building, the School Building of 1930-1940s, the Pea Ridge College Band, and of the School Campus of the 1930-1940s. The historical displays show many of the rural schools that were important to Pea Ridge in the late 1800s - the Pea Ridge College Band and later high school music programs, school sports history, cheerleaders outfits, agricultural and vocational education, and a photo gallery covering long years of Pea Ridge School history.
Everyone is invited to come out for an interesting and informative History Day on Saturday, May 18.
Since the tree can’t actually talk after all, maybe Pea Ridge residents can help tell the story.
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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 05/15/2013