Old Penfield Township schoolhouse hit the road to land at new locale

PENFIELD TWP. — An old red barn was lifted into the air on hydraulic jacks Thursday and hauled from a Foster Road farm to its new home on state Route 18. The structure, which experts said is in remarkable shape for being nearly 180 years old, long ago was used as a one-room schoolhouse. It will be restored to its former glory and opened to tours where it now sits, on a corner of the Penfield Township Hall property. "Hopefully this will be its final resting place," said Bill Kies, president of the Penfield Historical Society. Built in the 1840s, this marked the fourth time the building has been uprooted and moved. It's never gone far, but it has traveled a lot, first in the 1870s, then again after the school closed in 1918. Kies said it later was moved to the Hart farm owned by Charles Shaw, who donated it to the historical society. It had been used for many years as storage at the farm. This time around, Klier Structural Movers waited until school buses were off the road and traffic thinned, then moved the barn onto the roadway. The oversized load slowly was transported north on Foster Road and then west on state Route 18, a distance of about 2.5 miles with an Ohio Highway Patrol escort. Jim Klier has experience moving historical buildings, including jobs in Pittsfield, Oberlin, Huntington and Chatham. He said it took four days to get the old schoolhouse-turned-barn ready for the trip — that and getting all the necessary permits were the hard parts. "The actual move only takes an hour or so, God willing," he said. The move cost about $7,000 and Kies said the historical society plans to put as much again into renovations. It's incredibly rare to find an old schoolhouse in such good condition, he said. Penfield at one time had eight, each positioned about a mile and a half away from each other so children wouldn't have to travel too far. "A lot of the kids would walk that mile and a half to school, so they were placed where kids could get to them — never too far, but that meant a lot of schools were needed," Kies said. Many former schoolhouses across Ohio have been torn down, gutted, or converted into homes, churches or storage spaces. This one was treated extremely well, Kies said. The siding and windows are largely intact. "The interior here is the original ceiling and side walls from when it was built," he said. The roof still had all the original wood shingles, but they'll be replaced with a metal roof with the help of a grant from the Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative's People Fund. Kies said he has flooring from the 1800s that will be used to renovate the inside with an authentic feel. The Bob Gordon family had an chalkboard tucked away that will be returned to the schoolhouse, and the historical society has an original outdoor swing, a couple of wooden desks and the old hand pump used to get water from a well at the school. Kies thanked township trustees Richard Conrad, Eric Flynn and Duane Johnson, as well as LMRE, the Bob Gordon family, Linda VanMeter and many others for helping to make the schoolhouse project happen. He hopes to have the schoolhouse restored in a little more than a year. The goal is to show the public — but especially children — how students learned a century and more ago, Kies said. The Penfield Historical Society is still looking for donations to help cover the cost of the project. Checks may be sent to 41012 state Route 18, Wellington, OH 44090. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.