Soon, the Arnold School building will be one step closer to becoming a fully functional building again.
At the Addison Township Board meeting on Monday, Sept. 20, Supervisor Bruce Pearson announced that the township would be accepting sealed bids for exterior renovation of the Arnold School building (see public notice on Page 30).
According to Pearson, the project calls for new siding along with a new porch and a handicapped ramp.
‘We are excited now that we are going to get it fixed up like we wanted and we are putting a nice porch on it and a handicap ramp…those are the most important things,? Pearson said.
Pearson hopes the project will be complete before the start of winter.
At the same time the exterior of the is being done, a new bell tower will be added to the building, along with new doors and windows, Pearson said.
‘The siding, windows and everything we are putting out for bids and we have money set aside for that in the park budget and for the Arnold School budget,? he added.
Once that is complete, the township can start working on restoring the interior of the building to its former glory.
When the building is complete, it will become the park ranger station and an educational center.
‘The Rangers will be in the basement…then the upstairs will be an educational nature center,? Pearson said. He added that he does not know a timetable for when the inside will be completed due to the fact that everyone working on the inside of the building are volunteers.
‘I will just have to slowly work on it,? he added.
Pearson plans on putting all of the original artifacts back into the school building.
‘All of the artifacts are showing up,? he said. ‘I have the original bell that we are going to put in there, I have a teacher’s chalkboard and a desk…I got back the original flag, a 48 star flag.?
According to Pearson, the artifacts have been donated by descendents of children who attended school there.
The only thing the building will not have is plumbing because Pearson would like to install permanent bathrooms in the park.
‘We can leave those open year round and this one we can lock up,? he said.
The past year has seen lots of changes happen to the historic building. Addison purchased the building for $1 from Addison Community Church in July 2009 and proceeded to move the building from Lakeville and Hosner Rd. to the Watershed Preserve Park in September 2009.