Lower Burrell school property won't revert to original owners if school closes

Historians and officials say if Stewart Elementary School in Lower Burrell closes and goes up for sale, the land would not revert back to the Stewart family, despite rumors to the contrary.

Lower Burrell historian Ray Rieser said, despite popular belief, the Burrell School District purchased the land from the Stewart family in 1930, citing documents from the Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds.

Now, the school district is considering closing and selling the building, citing declining enrollment and an aging building. School directors scheduled a hearing June 25 at Stewart to take public comment on the closure.

Rumors on the property’s history swelled on social media after news of the possible closure and sale broke last week.

“There is no ‘reverter clause’ in the deed,” Superintendent Shannon Wagner said.

The elementary school property was vacant farmland when the school purchased it, Rieser said. The school district bought two properties from the Stewarts at the time, for a total price of $7,125. The land is 6.4 acres.

“I’ve never seen anything, anywhere, that the land was donated, and I have the deed that it wasn’t,” Rieser said.

The Stewart family did retain mineral rights to the property, Rieser said.

Stewart history

Stewart opened to elementary and junior high students in 1931, according to a written history of Lower Burrell provided by Wagner.

Stewart replaced four one-room schools: Bon Air, which had been located at the current Schaedler Yesco site before it was reconstituted at its current site on Leechburg Road; Glade View, which was at the current McDonald’s site before moving to its subsequent site at Iowa and Grove drives; Yetters, on Watters Drive; and Morrows, on Seventh Street Road.

“At that time, the consolidation of these schools was encouraged by the state’s provision of subsidies for student transportation services and an annual bonus for schools that complied,” according to the written history.

The original section of the Stewart building housed students from first to 10th grades. It had 11 classrooms, a gymnasium and library, and a home economics room.

The school expanded beginning in 1937 under the federal Works Progress Administration, which included five more classrooms, a nurse’s office, a cafeteria and a woodshop.

Another addition in 1952 added classrooms along with a room for teachers, an auditorium and an office.

The building was renovated in 1975 and again during the 1996-97 school year. At that time, the building had served students from kindergarten to fifth grade who lived in Lower Burrell between Alder Street and Craigdell Road.

In 2011, the district reconfigured its elementary buildings, having Bon Air Elementary serve students in kindergarten through third grade and Stewart holding fourth and fifth grades.