Historical society rebuilding former one-room Murrysville schoolhouse
About 175 years ago, a short stroll into the woods behind the Sampson-Clark Toll House in Murrysville would bring the one-room Murrysville schoolhouse into view.
The original school was built around 1836. In 1929, the family who’d purchased the property discovered the school’s original foundation.
By that time, it had been rebuilt and relocated twice, first to the northwest corner of Kistler Road and West Pike Street — the former McCall family farm — and then back near the toll house.
In 2020, the school will be rebuilt once again, this time by a crew of Amish builders from Smicksburg.
On a chilly October morning, Murrysville Historical Preservation Society President Carl Patty was going over blueprints with crew leader Elmer Hostetler.
“This version will be a little larger than the original, but that makes it a little more usable for today,” Patty said as workers began nailing roofing in place.
The society uses the toll house property for its annual Heritage Festival and for other programs throughout the year.
But “we wanted to enhance our use of the property and make it more of a historical district,” Patty said.
The school is being rebuilt through the generosity of a local anonymous benefactor, however the society will pay to furnish it with as much period-appropriate accoutrements as possible.
“We’re looking for at least two of the old school blackboards — not the green boards,” Patty said. “We’re also hoping to find a pot-belly stove, which is what would’ve been used to warm the building.
While the work won’t be finished until after Christmas, Patty and society officials are looking at how to outfit the interior.
“The room would’ve been separated by a wall with two rows of desks and a space for hanging coats,” Patty said. “Students sat three to a bench, and the benches were about 6 feet wide. The room could accommodate about 24 students.”
And while much of the building will remain true to its roots, not everything will be period-perfect.
“They used to gather moss from the woods to use as insulation in the walls,” Patty said. “I doubt we’ll be doing that.”
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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