Wheelock School House earns $100k preservation grant
Wheelock School House earns $100k preservation grant
A historic schoolhouse in Wheelock, Texas that was saved from demolition and is being restored to its former glory won a $100,000 award and honor by the Texas Historical Foundation earlier this year.
The Wheelock School House’s transformation is in large part due to a years-long partnership with the College of Architecture’s Center for Heritage Conservation, which stepped in when the Friends of the Wheelock School House reached out in 2016.
Located in Robertson County, the Wheelock community – population of about 200, had for years attempted to save the four-room schoolhouse with an auditorium. It was built in 1908 and served as a school until the 1940s, then was converted into a vibrant venue for community events, weddings, parties, family reunions and more.
Over time,the architecturally significant structure deteriorated due to limited resources, leading to its poor condition and the threat of demolition in the 2010s.
Feeling the building was too important to lose, community members formed the Friends of the Wheelock School House in 2016 with a mission to save the structure and keep it open for community use. The task was daunting with such a large building, the number of repairs needed and no deep pockets in the community to fund the work.
The small but determined group forged ahead and enlisted the help of the Center for Heritage Conservation in the College of Architecture at Texas A&M to determine the necessary steps for preserving the building.
Architecture Professor Priya Jain and her students joined the project and donated their time to survey, scan, and document the exact condition of the building, then prepared reports outlining the work to be done and preservation grants to be successfully applied for to fund the restoration.
To aid in the restoration of the original historic windows, the A&M team carefully surveyed each individual pane, which led to a grant funding a historic craftsman who painstakingly restored each one. Jain and team also conducted a paint analysis to identify the historic colors for the building’s exterior.
The local group was able to use the documentation work to acquire grants to fund a new roof, stabilize the foundation, upgrade the electrical and make a new accessible bathroom.
The Wheelock group was one of four groups that was recognized at the inaugural Texas Historical Foundation Michael C. Duda Preservation Awards, held in Dallas. The award was named in honor of architect and late Texas Historical Foundation Board Member Michael C. Duda and recognizes sustained excellence in historic preservation by nonprofit organizations in Texas.
Other awardees included the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum in Cuero, Flower Hill Foundation in Austin, and the RBH Yates Museum in Houston. These awards will be transformative for each organization and their work to preserve important places that tell the diverse story of Texas.
The award funds given to Wheelock will be used to support ongoing exterior restoration efforts, focusing on repairing or replacing the exterior wood clapboard siding where needed and scraping and painting the entire building to return it to its original white color.
The Center for Heritage Conservation continues to work with the Friends of the Wheelock School House, lending their help when possible and using the structure as a learning lab for Texas’ next generation of architects and preservationists to hone their skills.
More information on the awards and videos featuring the award winners can be found on the Texas Historical Foundation website at www.texashistoricalfoundation.org. Information about the Texas A&M Center for Heritage Conservation can be found here. Friends of the Wheelock School House can be found here.
