Goings on at School Heritage Building

The New/old Pea Ridge School Heritage Building has been many things to many different Pea Ridgers through it’s near a century of existence. To the folks of Russell Walker’s generation in the 1930s, it was the school shop and agriculture classroom — a oneroom block building with a great door in the west wall to bring in buggies, wagons and carts. To folks such as J.W. Jordan in the 1940s and 1950s, it was the school’s hot lunch room, with the school kitchen added on against the north wall. In the 1970s, it became the high school counselor’s office; and for folks like Brenda Henson, it was Mrs. Wanda Roe’s art class building. For Mary Beard and others of younger generations it was the S.E.E.K. building, promoting excellence of achievement among PRHS students.

On Sunday afternoon, May 20, from 2 - 4 p.m., you are invited to an Open House and Reception, to remember and celebrate the service this great old building has furnished for Pea Ridge schools across the years, and to usher in a new phase of its service as the School Heritage Building, continuing to serve the school’s educational mission as it initiates a new outreach to serve the families, school alumni and civic organizations of the Pea Ridge community.

Sunday’s Open House is sponsored by the Pea Ridge Historical Society and Museum. Mrs. Mary Durand, former Pea Ridge mayor, is the current Historical Society president. The Historical Society leases the Heritage Building from the school, and administers it’s operations in conjunction with the museum across the street.

Everyone is invited to come out for the Heritage Building Open House this Sunday afternoon. Not all of the building renovations will be completed by that time, but we want people to see the work in progress, and hopefully to contribute remembrances, artifacts, pictures, documents and other support that will help make the Heritage venture a meaningful success. Construction is still going on in earnest on the downtown Intermediate School building, but parking will be available at the corner of North Curtis Avenue and Pike Street, and along the north block of Curtis Ave., as well as along the new campus drive and along Pickens Street.

With the Open House, we hope to video record the memories as recalled by Pea Ridge School students from years past, and we expect to have equip- ment on hand to scan copies of pictures that you are willing to share for display.

Here are several examples of pictures we would be interested in finding for display at the Heritage Building: School Band pictures, either from the era of the old College Band or from the school bands of the 1960s and later; pictures from the older Pea Ridge school buildings and classes, or from the outlying rural schools of the early 1900s; pictures of horses plowing, horses pulling buggies, wagons, or farm implements; pictures of old garden or farm tools (or the real things); old school sports pictures; pictures of old town scenes or school scenes; pictures from the era of apple orchards and apple dryers and apple processing sheds; and/or pictures of townspeople and of area families.

Some local community organizations are already meeting regularly at the Heritage Building. The Pea Ridge Historical Society meets monthly on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. The Pea Ridge Lions Club meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 6 p.m. The Pea Ridge High School Alumni Association Board of Directors meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. The Heritage Building is open to the public whenever the Museum is open, currently on Saturdays from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. To arrange to use the building for an organization’s meeting or for a family activity, contact Augusta Bradley (e-mail gbradley10@gmail.com, or phone 479-685-0517). For information, or to arrange to tour the Museum or Heritage Building, call one of the other Historical Society officers — Mary Durand 586-5574, Jerry Nichols 621-1621 or Marcia Cothran 451-8256.

Come join in the “Goings on” at the School Heritage Building this Sunday afternoon, 2 - 4 p.m.

••• Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is 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 joe369@centurytel.net, or call 621-1621.