In the past year, two different branches of the Wirsing School's original family have reached out through the blog. This is astounding and wonderful, and beyond gratifying. I would say that it's incomprehensible to think that such a charming little place almost met such an undignified end, but, with grand mansions being torn down every day we know that's not true. Still, the little schoolhouse that could must have known it had a fan club, it's the only thing explaining why it still managed to stay (mostly) upright.
Here's a bit of it's history, in photos...
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| 1912 - check out the original bell tower, chimney and porch! |
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| 1967 |
The two photos above were sent to me by a member of the Wirsing family whose cousin, Ronda Ball, was the last
Wirsing to own the schoolhouse. Her grandfather, Wayne Wirsing, bought and restored the schoolhouse in the 60's. He was
born just down the lane from the schoolhouse in a farmhouse. Her 3 times great grandpa donated the land and some of the funds to build the school house in 1875, and it was in operation until 1948. The bell is not original to the school and was gone when her grandpa, Wayne, bought the school (The bell had already been stolen when we began work, what a relief to find out it wasn't original). There was a Wirsing reunion held at the school each August from 1967 until the late 1980's. There are
several school desks from the schoolhouse house still in the family.
The photos below are one I just received, taken in 1999 by another Wiring descendant who was doing genealogical research. Sarah Jane Wirsing (daughter of John Wirsing and Sarah Rush) is his 4th great-grandmother.
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| 1999 |
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| 1999 |
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| 1999 |
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| 1999 - check out those wasp nests! |
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| 1999 |
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| 1999 |
The next few photos are the schoolhouse as we found it in early 2013, after responding to a "free stuff" posting on Craigslist. There are not enough thank yous in the world for the people who posted it...
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| 2013 |
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| 2013 |
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| 2013 |
After the first coat of paint on the front following it's resurrection (see, this is a timely almost Easter post!)...
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| 2016 |
More or less as she stands today below. Paint will get finished this year no matter what, as will gutters. I'm not sure I'll have time to finish restoring the beadboard shutters though.
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| 2017 |
Given that Wirsing School Road no long has it's school, I think we'll be buying a replica street sign for our driveway, just in case the family reunions resume and they need to find the place...
