Forest Grove School in rural Barry County, Missouri USA
N 36° 41.649 W 093° 46.967
15S E 430072 N 4061229
A former country school converted into a home, and expanded, in rural Barry County Missouri
Waymark Code: WMHAV0
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 06/16/2013
Views: 2
This poster was fortunate to drive up on Father's Day to find the current owner of the school / home, Ron, celebrating with his father and his wife's father in the front yard. He was glad to show me around and tell me some things about the old school. The school is mentioned in the following RootsWeb pages:
1909 Extracts from Barry County Papers;
May 12, 1912 article from the Barry County Republican;
May 16, 1912 article from the Barry County Republican.
Ron's dad had bought the Forest Grove School when it was in pretty bad condition. Ron and his dad worked very hard to stablize it, then added on a new roof over the old tile roof, and new siding outside of the original siding, as well as putting in necessary rooms - kitchen, bedrooms, den, etc. - and adding on a garage at the north end, and a room edition off of the east side. Ron bought the schoolhouse from his dad. He mentioned that an original outhouse is still in the back (north) side, which he hopes to recondition back into usable condition.
Ron then walked me down the road, to the north, to show me, from the road, a blacksmith's shop on neighboring property. The property is very heavily wooded and thick with weeds. But we could see the building and its door from the road (FR1160). The neighbor who owns it was willing to sell it, but for a rather high price. If it were more reasonable, Ron would buy it and fix up that old blacksmith shop. Here's hoping...