Landmark Manatee school earns a spot on the National Register of Historic Places - Duette, Florida, USA - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

In Manatee County is the rural community of Duette. For 86 years the Duette School served the community. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 30, 2018. This news article reports on the story.

Article text:

Landmark Manatee school earns a spot on the National Register of Historic Places

BY RYAN CALLIHAN

DUETTE
The Duette School’s recent petition to be recognized as one of Florida’s historic sites has officially become a success.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner announced Wednesday that the 88-year-old one-room school has been added to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. Supporters initially filed their bid for consideration in June.

Florida’s last one-teacher school joined the list along with two others, Detzner said. In Manatee County, there about two dozen other historic sites on the register.

“This listing on the National Register of Historic Places demonstrate the significance of the state’s historic local institutions,” he said in a release. “The Duette School, St. Cloud Depot and Wahnish Cigar Factory each provide a window into their community’s history.”

The Florida Department of State noted that the Duette School functioned as the only public primary school for the rural communities of Duette, Bunker Hill and Albritton in East Manatee from 1930 to 2016. Now, the Manatee County School Board owns the property but allows the Duette Committee Association to run it, said chairwoman Betty Glassburn.

Glassburn said the committee’s attempts to get the Duette School on the registry took five tries and “lots of digging.” In the end, their hard work paid off.

“We just kept chugging at it because we didn’t want to lose itt,” said Glassburn, who attended Duette as a child, following her mother and father, who met there. “That school is our heritage.”

Thanks to the new destination, “the school is never going away,” she explained. The Duette School is still “in pristine condition,” but now the building is eligible for federal grants for restoration. In fact, the school’s current condition is one of the key points that won over the Florida National Register Review Board.

“I was on the phone during the hearing, and they were really impressed with the playground equipment. Everything is original, except the slide is gone,” Glassburn said. “It’s the same stuff I played on as a kid.”

While a news release said there are current plans to turn the school into a community center, Glassburn said the school district limits them in what they can do with the building. She’s hopeful, however, that the district may grant DCA full ownership someday.

“A community center could happen once we get control. The school board has limited us on what we can do,” Glassburn explained. “What we envisioned was having it so we could rent it out for weddings or family reunions. We could do that for a price and it would help us pay for the cost of owning it.”

From 1930 to 1966, the Duette School was a two-teacher school that taught first through eighth grades but in 1967, the school shifted to just one teacher who taught first through fourth grades. Duette closed in 2016, with 11 students in its final year. It was the last public school of its kind in Florida, Detzner said.

Those interested in exploring the site for themselves are welcome to attend the building’s monthly open house on the second Saturday of each month. Guided tours are given from 8 a.m. to noon.

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 10/03/2018 Publication: Bradenton Herald Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Arts/Culture

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