Getting Schooled
Kathy Miller, playing the part of “Miss Morris” at the Crouse Schoolhouse, gives a lesson to the Cornerstone Genealogical Society during the group’s meeting Tuesday night.
John “Buzz” Walters stands with Kathy Miller, dressed as a schoolteacher, in front of the Crouse Schoolhouse near Rogersville before the Cornerstone Genealogical Society’s meeting Tuesday night.
Lana Scott Taylor, left, and Linda Grove Messich attended the Crouse Schoolhouse in fourth grade in the late 1950s.
ROGERSVILLE – Class was back in session last week at the Crouse Schoolhouse for the first time in more than 55 years.
The 108-year-old brick building along Route 21 near Rogersville hadn’t been used since the end of the 1960 school year, and the historic one-room schoolhouse was showing its age.
Just a year ago, the Greene County Historical Society, which owns the schoolhouse, was at a crossroads on what to do with it after renovations to the building ground to a halt. A problem with a contractor left the building practically without a roof and rainwater seeped into the building, damaging the floors and the plaster walls.
But with the help of a new roofer late last year, workers were able to finish repairs on the exterior and interior of the building to once again open its doors to the public during.
“It’s been a horrible project in some ways and it’s been great in others,” historical society member George “Bly” Blystone said of the extensive renovations over the past five years. “Finally it’s coming together. We have a few more issues, but nothing critical.”
Several former students and the Cornerstone Genealogical Society returned to the Crouse Schoolhouse last Tuesday night to tour the classroom and remember what it was like to learn in such an intimate environment.
Linda Grove Messich and Lana Scott Taylor were in fourth grade during one of the last classes to attend the school in the late 1950s. They were in awe of how their former classroom looked nowadays and pulled up a seat near where their old desks were once located.
“I’m really appreciative of the fact they restored it and have done so much,” Messich said.
The school is named after the Crouse family that owned the farm property across from what is now Route 21. Descendants in the Crouse family have been working with the historical society to see if the building can be saved.
Charles Anderson’s mother, Louise Crouse, attended the school in the early 1900s. Anderson worked to repair plywood boards on the front porch in an attempt to rehabilitate the exterior.
“Years ago, we wished someone would do something with it,” Anderson said. “Once we got the roof, then we could take care of the rest.”
The historical society envisions the schoolhouse can now be used as a meeting room or be used for community events, just as Cornerstone Genealogical Society did last week.
“We’ve owned it for a long, long time,” Blystone said. “The Crouse family was interested, so they got together with us and we went for it. It just blossomed from there. They knew something would have to happen or it’d fall down.”
He praised John “Buzz” Walters of Rogersville and several other volunteers who worked to raise money, made constriction plans and found workers to make the repairs. It culminated in unofficial reopening of the schoolhouse during the genealogical society’s monthly meeting in a classroom format.
“We’re not finished, but we’ve finished enough that we can have meetings,” Walters, a former West Greene administrator and school board director, said during the meeting.
Kathy Miller spent the evening as schoolteacher “Miss Morris” as she took the “class” through a normal school day that began with the pledge of allegiance and a prayer before going into the day’s studies.
The teachers did more than just instruct their class. They were also the cooks and janitors, Messich said. The students brought potatoes with them in sacks and the teacher would bake them in the potbelly stove in the middle of the room, Messich recalls.
Taylor remembers the fun they had playing ball outside in the small yard next to the school.
Messich, however, recalls losing that recess privilege as punishment for bad behavior. She got in even bigger trouble trying to climb through the windows so as not to be detected by the teacher.
At one time, there used to be 92 one-room schoolhouses in that side of the county. Blystone said they’re being lost to time or people turning them into homes, meaning saving the Crouse Schoolhouse was an important achievement for the county.
“They’re leaving faster than you know because people are turning them into houses,” Blystone said. ” Once they do that, they’re leaving what they were. For the museum to have a couple of them, that is really cool. We want to dig into the history.”