Alice School, located near Bendavis on Highway 38 in Texas County about 17 miles from Houston, Cabool and Mountain Grove, is nearing the final steps of its historic restoration by Brad Allen and his family.
In the near future, Allen wants the school to be available for socials, township meetings and other events as a rural community center. He is planning the final steps of the project and a community celebration in October 2015 to commemorate the school’s 100th anniversary.
“During the past few months, we have made tremendous progress with our project. We have the interior now completely painted, and a new subfloor installed. I ordered the metal ceiling (replicating the original) over the weekend,” Allen said. “We are on target, if not ahead of schedule for our planned October opening and dedication ceremony.”
FAMILY CONNECTION
Alice school was built in 1915 and operated until the mid-1950s. At one time, the school was divided into two rooms and had two teachers.
Several generations of Allens attended the school. Brad’s grandma and her siblings all attended Alice. His father’s older sister and brother also attended Alice but his father missed out after the rural schools consolidated in 1955.
Brad is now the third generation of his family to have a connection with Alice School.
Those family connections have made interior furnishing possible. Most of the original desks, stove and other items from Alice School remain and will be back in place once internal work is done. Sometime in March, the tin ceiling will be put back in place along with a blackboard.
“The pine trees that surround the school were planted by my grandmother’s class at the school in partnership with the Missouri Department of Conservation,” Allen said.
Allen has been cataloging and archiving all the family relics related to the school along with other items donated by various community members.
“I am very lucky my grandmother, Maxine Allen, started that part of the process many years before she passed away,” Allen said.
Brad Allen and his father have supported the restoration project which is on the family farm. New Life USA, a faith-based recovery ministry based in nearby Bado, has provided much of the labor on this project.
NATIONAL ATTENTION
Allen will be presenting a program at the 15th annual national conference of the Country Schools Association of America this June. The 2015 conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and will attract one-room school enthusiasts from across the nation.
At the CSAA conference, Allen’s presentation will focus on his family’s efforts to preserve Alice School. Topics for discussion include integrity of remodel, acquiring of family and community heirlooms, and plans for use after the restoration.
Brad Allen was raised on a dairy and hay farm where the Alice School located. Allen graduated from Mountain Grove High School in 1992. He then studied finance and international business at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. He graduated from WTAMU in 1996 with a BBA and in 1998 with an MBA. Formerly an internal auditor in Dallas, Texas, he moved back to the Ozarks in 2014 to help his father run the family farm. Allen serves as the operations director for Allen’s Center Point Ranch Inc.
“I’ve had great help in the community on this project,” Allen said. “The resources and contacts I’ve made through University of Missouri Extension’s Missouri Historic Schools Alliance have also proven to be invaluable. The advice from others who have restored one-room schools has been very valuable and I’ve met some wonderful people.”
GROWING INTEREST
Interest in one-room schools has been on the rise nationally since the late 1990s. Most recently in Missouri, David Burton, a civic communications specialist with University of Missouri Extension, has hosted conferences focused on preserving one-room schools, produced publications on the topic, provided advice to others interested in preserving one-room schools and created an organization known as the Missouri Historic Schools Alliance.
Membership in the Missouri Historic Schools Alliance is open to local history enthusiasts and owners of one-room schools in the state of Missouri. More information about the Missouri Historic Schools Alliance, including a membership form, can be found online at extension.missouri.edu/greene or by calling the Greene County Extension Center in Springfield at 417-881-8909.