New life has been breathed into a Hempfield schoolhouse originally built in 1803.
After sitting vacant for 15 years, the Middletown School House — along School House Lane — was purchased by Donna Acito in 2017. Originally planning to tear down the structure, Acito decided to restore it after learning of its history and finding a stable foundation.
“We purchased it, and we were not really sure what we were going to do with it. … It was dilapidated, and we looked around and we decided we were going to restore it,” Acito said.
It had extensive water damage that went into the basement. A tree was growing through a hole in the roof.
Over the course of two years, Acito and her husband, Rex Zerbe, put in a new roof and floors, rebuilt an indoor bathroom, made the structure handicapped-accessible, renovated a pavilion, cleaned the bricks, and restored the original windows and chalkboard.
They rebuilt the bell tower, which was not there when Acito bought the property. An old photo of the school showed a bell tower.
The chalkboard is also original, she said.
“We painted it with chalkboard paint, but when we were scraping the walls — that was the wall with all the water and where the tree was growing — so when we were scraping it, I thought it was mold. I came to realize that was the original chalkboard.”
While most of the renovations are complete, Acito said she is not sure what she wants to do with the space. She and Zerbe are toying with the idea of creating an ice cream parlor.
The schoolhouse — often referred to as the schoolhouse on the hill — has had various uses over the years. Originally built in 1803, the structure was rebuilt in 1892, according to documents provided by Thomas Harrold, president of the Baltzer Meyer Historical Society.
A newspaper clipping provided by Harrold reads, “A new brick school house will be built the coming summer in Middletown, Hempfield Township. The citizens of that place of consequence are jubilant.”
After receiving bids for the project, the board of directors voted to hire Jacob Spindler as the contractor, the documents show.
The new school was accepted by the board on Sept. 17, 1892. About 35 years later, in 1927, the building was wired for electricity.
According to Acito, after the building ceased being a school, the township acquired it, using it as a voting center and bus garage. It was eventually sold to the Middletown United Methodist Church, which used it as a community center before it sat vacant.
“I’d love to see it functioning as a building,” Acito said. “It is a beautiful building and beautiful from its time period. I’d like to see it restored to its full use.”
