Wednesday, June 12, 2019

The old school wears its 145 years well


Every time Cameron Shriver got a good start on application of fresh paint to the oldest building on the Lucas County Historical Society campus --- the skies opened and it began to pour. So we've been kidding him that this has been the longest paint job involving the smallest building ever undertaken in Chariton.

That's not exactly fair --- it's a complicated building to deal with and required some careful scraping, some repair work, a good deal of masking, and the application of paint with a combination of brushes and sprayer. All this had to dry out before work could begin again. Fortunately, he had plenty of inside paint jobs to work on while we waited for the sun to shine.

But as of Monday, the job's done and Puckerbrush (aka Pleasant Ridge No. 3) is looking good.

The school, larger that it appears on first glance to be, was built in northwest Lucas County's Ottercreek Township during the summer of 1874 and closed during the 1960s as rural schools were consolidated. It was moved to the museum campus during 1968 and restored.

Every spring, elementary school classes that visit us get to spend some time in the school, retired teachers generally gather there once a year for a meeting and sack lunches and it's always open for tours and special occasions.

And just around the corner past the pioneer cabin those spring rains have produced a lavish display of hostas around the pioneer barn. The museum is open now 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and Saturdays by appointment. Guests are welcome to visit the gardens and grounds at any time.



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