Visitors got a lesson in local history Sunday at the Centre County Historical Society's open house to celebrate the newly restored Boogersburg School.
Jerry Dreese, one of the community members to turn out for the event, attended the school in the second grade in 1949.
“I like it. I’m glad somebody fixed it up, so that we can enjoy coming here,” Dreese said.
The one-room schoolhouse in Patton Township was open as a school from 1877 to 1952. It was named after the hamlet of Boogersburg that used to be in the area.
The school was gifted to the Centre County Historical Society in 2004. Since then, the historical society has given tours to the community and shown local children what school was like for their predecessors. And, more recently, the society completed major restoration work.
“We are charged with keeping Centre County history alive and well,” said Roger Williams, president of the historical society. “This is the kind of thing that we like to do, to remind people of what this county was once all about, and how it grew and developed into the very vibrant county it is today.”
The historical society raised $216,841 in donations to restore the school.
As part of the renovations, a new roof and windows were installed, the school was repainted, and the exterior landscaping was redone. There are still some works in progress, like reinforcing the foundation and adding benches outside.
Vincent Tedesco, a donor to the restoration project, said he went to a similar one-room schoolhouse. The area, he said, has a “great history.”
“The people that came here, settled the place, made it grow, how hard they worked, day in and day out – the country needs to understand all that heritage," Tedesco said. "They really do. And a place like this helps them.”
The Boogersburg School was one of 180 schools in the area founded as part of the “common school movement.” The idea was that in order to foster democracy, America’s youth needed to be literate and educated.
Williams said cities in the Alleghenies have their own “defining historical heritages.” Altoona has railroads, Johnstown has steel, and Williamsport has lumber.
“State College, the defining historical heritage is education,” Williams said. “That’s our major industry far and away. So this is one piece of that heritage. And so, we are obligated to keep it alive and well.”
