This beauty is called Fertile Forest. It was listed on the Alberta Register of Historic Places in 1993. It's one of the typical styles of one room schoolhouses but the special thing about it, is that it exists in it's original location. In 1980, with the help of a government grant and many volunteers, it received extensive renovations.
Tales from the early days of the school speak of it being very cold in the winter with the kids huddling around the pot bellied stove and eating frozen lunches. It wasn't until 1939 when a basement and a new heating system were added to the school. Fertile Forest operated from 1915-1954, it was then purchased for $350 to be used as community centre.
It suffered substantial damage in 2015 from a hail storm. The paint was stripped off the exterior and the windows were smashed, allowing hail to get inside damaging the interior. Once again she was fixed up and looks darn good for a 100 year old building.
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| Fertile Forest in 1991 (photo from www.culturetourism.alberta.ca) |
Have a good weekend everyone!
You cannot save all of these however it is great that a few of them were saved.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to save them all!!!!
DeleteBeautiful! Alex and I were discussing the subject of historical old buildings. He does lots of reading about them. I've mentioned to you Jenn that we just don't have these quaint little buildings that exist here much. Alex read that most of the historic buildings that have made it (in Quebec) were built from stone. This is an English thing apparently because the French were more interested in building something quick in wood, usually a church or school, to generate funds for the church. Quebec is very big on Catholicism. So buildings were built with profit in mind, but not built to last. That's why there are so many decrepit buildings, and lots that just simply don't exist anymore because once the church became less popular with the Quebec population, taking care of them and putting money into them became less popular as well. All of the English buildings that were built to last, are still around the province and taken care of through Heritage Canada. Of course there are lots of exceptions to this, especially in the bigger cities of Montreal and Quebec city, but for the most part of rural Quebec, this is the case. I find it all very interesting!
ReplyDeleteIt is all so interesting! Stone buildings are rare here. I find it neat how it varies just by province. even from SK to AB. I also find that in Alberta a lot of buildings aren't preserved, my thoughts are that there was a lot of people with money who wanted big, shiny, new so old things, even historic things were destroyed. Luckily there are groups of people who form societies to save some of these places.
DeleteThis one's a sweetheart (a word I know I use way too much, oh well)! You have Fertile Forest up there and we have Fertile Plains down here. Nice find, Jenn.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael! This one is a real sweetheart if I do say so myself!
DeleteI can see why it is a favorite. Here, most of the old schools were sold when they phased out rural schools and the kids were bussed into town schools. Folks mostly tore them down and built houses on the property. There are very few old schools still standing. Except one I know of that was made of brick. The new owner turned it into a lovely home but retained that old school look.
ReplyDeleteHi Vicki! Same happened here but some were turned into community centres or used as farm buildings. I'm glad some are around. The brick ones are nice! Not many around here though. Cheap and quick to build with wood I guess!
DeleteMust of been quite a hail storm
ReplyDeleteIt was! We've had some wicked hail storms here over the past few years. That part of Alberta was hit hard 2 years in a row.
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