Schoolhouse Memories Preserved
Ted and Opal Alpert pose in front of Vickers Schoolhouse for the original article in 1980.
This is a republication of “Schoolhouse Memories Preserved” by Jill Denning, Staff Writer at The Miami Republican, originally published October 9, 1980.
The Vickers School, near the Block community, has undergone a face-lift this fall and came out looking years younger than its 89 years.
Ted and Opal Alpert performed the face-lift and managed to erase many of the remnants of children’s heel marks and cold winters which froze pipes solid. Behind is left a clean, bright abandoned school house which is available for community use.
The original school house was built in 1869. The deed stipulated that when the land on which the school was built was no longer used for school purposes, if was to be given back to the owner. The owner was C.D. Millis who sold the land to Ted Alpert’s father.
The land was used for a school house for a number of years. In 1891 the school, which is still standing, was built and was used for learning during the day. The school was used for family and community dinners and plays on the weekends and for a voting center during election years.
Yet, in 1966, the books and pencils were packed away and the students were sent to Paola USD 368 schools. Over 100 rural schools in Miami County were abandoned and left to let the grass overgrow their school yards. Many schools were bought and moved to different locations and converted into homes.
But not District 49 school. The Alperts refused to let the Vickers School building at the corner of Victory Road and 319th Street crumble with the times.
Instead in early August they began their maintenance work. The school building was used for several years by the Victory 4-H Club, but upkeep got to be too much for the farm youngsters and their parents. The back door had to be nailed shut to keep it closed, the water pipes froze and were badly in need of repair, the furnace squeezed out a little heat, but not enough to keep the large one-room building warm.
The club made plans to dispose of the building, according to Mrs. Alpert. But before the plans jelled the Alperts requested that they be allowed to fix it up. The deed was signed over to them in early August and that is when the work began.
Mr. Alpert, who went to the school in his early 75 years, and Mrs. Alpert, who taught in the school in the 40s, donned their working clothes and began a hot, exhausting venture.
They drained the well and cleaned it out, painted the outside sheds, repaired some of the outside playground equipment, fixed the back door, repaired electrical wiring, the furnace, water pipes and cleaned and waxed the entire tile floor.
The entire venture was more than they had planned on. The grueling heat was stifling because the windows were painted shut. The costs mounted as they found more and more things that needed repair.
“There were some days we almost gave up,” Mrs. Alpert admitted, but she said it all seems worth it now.
Mr. Alpert said after being reared within a mile of the schoolhouse, he would have hated to see the corner without the white structure.
“It’s sort of a landmark. We’d miss it if it wasn’t there,” he said.
He said an empty, dilapidated building, though, was of no use to the community and needed to be repaired.
“It would have been an eyesore,” he said.
The Alperts still are working on the furnace and some of the playground equipment, but the majority of their labors are behind them. The school house will be ready for use in the Nov.4 election.
Mrs. Alpert in the meantime is researching the history of the schoolhouse. She has listed every teacher who once taught at the school (some who started at salaries of $40 a month), found many names of school board members, one for who the school is named, and is also busy identifying old pictures of former students.