Symbolic Schoolhouse Dedicated
Restoration project is the highlight of Museum Festival
June 04, 1999
The sun shone on Memorial Day for the Crazy Mountain Museum’s annual festival as Phyllis Kemph walked through the crowd with a school house bell summoning the festival goers to the dedication of the Sourdough School.
The complete inside and outside restoration of the school installed on the museum grounds is a symbol of the 69 rural schools that have served Sweet Grass County over the last 100 years. The schoolhouse itself was donated by Nettie Nevin and her family.
It has been a two and a half year project taken on by a committee comprised of Nora Hanson, Don Tetlie, Jan Counter, Barbara Osen, Helmer and Barbara Branae, Kemph, Fran Elgen, Evelyn Willson, Edie Harper and Connie Anderson. The project included building a foundation and transporting the schoolhouse to the site, replacing all siding and roof materials, gutting and restoring the interior, replacing doors and windows, new electrical wiring, sanding and finishing the wood floor, ground shaping and landscaping, building a walkway and porch, building and mounting a bell tower and procuring and installing authentic historic furnishings and details.
Much of the labor was done by the committee members whose creative energy and hard work went into fund raising over $20,000, construction, cleaning, painting and collecting display items, and a 29-week series of stories about the county’s rural schools which ran m The Pioneer. The committee spent well over 1,900 hours of volunteer time to see this labor of love to completion.
Sourdough School was built in 1912 on Cottonwood Creek about 18 miles from Big Timber. It had a wood-burning stove, water from a nearby spring, two outhouses and a barn for students’ horses. Its playground was the grass and trees around the school and the neighbor’s pasture across the creek. There was a swing in a big tree behind the building Like other country schools, it was the scene of community basket socials and dances as well as Christmas programs, spelling bees and picnics It was also a bridge to the American culture and language for many Norwegian immigrants who homesteaded in Sweet Grass County. It served until 1963.
You can take a look at the school and other museum exhibits from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
From the Big Timber Pioneer