Heritage group looks to save schoolhouse
NORTH SMITHFIELD – The North Smithfield Heritage Association in collaboration with the North Smithfield Historic District Commission is seeking proposals for a comprehensive study and master plan of the Forestdale Schoolhouse, one of the last of the old style one-room schoolhouses in town.
The NSHA has issued a request for proposals to hire a firm to provide architectural and engineering services to assess the current condition of the school building and grounds and develop a plan that will define and prioritize a strategy for the future.
Bids are due March 3 and a pre-bid meeting with potential contractors will be held Monday at the school.
The NSHA maintains two historically significant buildings in town – the Forestdale Schoolhouse on School Street and the renovated Heritage Hall on Green Street in
Slatersville, which was previously used as a grange hall, says NSHA volunteer Louise Vanhouwe.
Vanhouwe, 85, a lifelong resident who lives across the street from the Forestdale Schoolhouse, was a student there from 1935 to 1939.
“We used to bring a stick of wood to school to put in the wood box for the potbelly stove,” says Vanhouwe, the school’s official caretaker
The land for the school was deeded to school district on Dec. 12, 1876 by the Forestdale Manufacturing Company. The school was originally built in 1877 as a wood clapboard-sided building with Victorian style gingerbread trim and a cupola. The school used to provide education for the village children, whose parents were mostly employed by the company.
On June 19, 1974, the school closed to pupils for the last time. From July 14, 1975 to now, the building has been leased to the NSHA by the town.
On Oct. 21, 2013, the town recognized the schoolhouse as a local historic district and as such it now falls under the jurisdiction of the North Smithfield Historic District Commission.
Since 1975, the NSHA has spent considerable time and money restoring, renovating and maintaining the schoolhouse as an educational museum. However, Vanhouwe says, more work needs to be done, including making the building ADA accessible, replacement of the cupola with bell that was blown off in the hurricane of 1938, replacement of all entrance steps, and repairing or replacing the painted wood clapboard siding.
“The building was built in 1877, but it’s solid,” Vanhouwe says. “But there are a lot of problems. There are bees’ nests and big holes in the front and back of the building. We need to do more if we want to preserve it for the future.”
In November, the Town Council awarded the NSHA $6,500 to procure the master plan, and $19,000 to help fund new stairs in front of the building, as well as a new staircase.
The NSHA has secured a grant from the R.I. Foundation/North Smithfield Ambulance Organization, and is also applying for a $6,500 grant from the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission.