10/27/21 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Retired Central High School history teacher Robert "Bud" Chonko (left) and Blair County Historical Society chairman Michael Farrow survey the interior of the historic Dicks School House south of Roaring Spring.

ROARING SPRING — Time, weather and vandalism have taken a toll on the beloved old Dick School House and now local residents and the Blair County Historical Society are wondering if anything can or should be done to further preserve the building, which stands as a testament to early education in rural Blair County.

“We are at a total loss of what to do with it,” said Michael Farrow, chairman of the Blair County Historical Society.

The society has owned the one-room school — and 10 feet of land around it — for the past 100 years. While the roof is less than 25 years old, the interior mortar is crumbling and vandals continue to do damage and scatter trash in and around the property.

Like generations before, Farrow said, the society regrets that it hasn’t found the means to preserve the building.

Farrow cited the lack of volunteers and funds — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic — and the ongoing vandalism as issues the board has discussed related to the school.

“If we stabilize it, then what? What can we do with it,” he asked. “We can raise funds for it, and fixing it might last 10 years, then it’s destroyed again. That’s the main reason nothing has been done with it.”

According to local historians, Dick School House holds an important place in Blair County history.

Located along Route 867 south of Roaring Spring, the school was built in 1830 by early settlers, before public education became commonplace. It has long been recognized as the oldest schoolhouse in central Pennsylvania and the last of its kind in the county.

The ground it sits on was once owned by Daniel Dick, a farmer in the region, and the limestone for the walls came from the surrounding fields. The building served as a school until 1870, and then was a home, a butcher shop and lastly, a church.

It was abandoned until 1920, when descendants of the Dick family took it over, deeding the property to the society that same year.

Today, the building stands as a symbol of early settlers’ determination.

“There’s nothing in the county that compares to it in terms of historical value,” said Robert “Bud” Chonko, a retired history teacher from Central High School. “These were farmers that just wanted their kids to be educated. So with their own materials, they built this schoolhouse on their off-season, when they weren’t planting or harvesting.

“Every time I look at the building, I think ‘Man, that’s really something,'” he added.

Years ago, Chonko and a group of his students staged an annual cleanup day there as part of a local history class. In 1998, they put a new roof on the building.

Now, Chonko, of Martinsburg, said he would like to see the building turned over to a group that could use it regularly.

“They’re somewhat constrained because it can’t go to just anyone,” he said. “It has to be someone who will use it and maintain it.”

Farrow said that Baker Mansion in Altoona and Royer Mansion south of Williamsburg require most of the society’s time and finances, leaving little resources for other projects.

“We are open to anything that would ultimately preserve the building,” Farrow added. “Fixing it up every 20 to 30 years isn’t a feasible strategy. We don’t want to wait until it falls apart again.”

The last time the society worked on the building was four years ago, when it painted and fixed the shutters. But since then, there’s been a decline in its appearance that’s apparent to passing drivers.

Jerome Conlon, president of the Roaring Spring Historical Society, said he has noted the building’s decay.

His group, made up of three local volunteers, discussed helping with the school but ultimately decided it was too much responsibility to take on right now.

“(BCHS) had it beautiful at one point, but since it’s way out there, it gets vandalized and it’s a never-ending cycle,” he said. “We just didn’t want to get involved in that. For us to take that on would be too much.”

Local residents discussing the issue on social media asked what happened to the property and how they could help. Larry Smith of East Freedom offered to organize a group of volunteers to work on it.

“I love history, and I hate to see anything bad happen to any historic structure,” Smith said. “Something needs to be done, for sure. It would be good if a group could band together and do something good with it.”

Smith, a 67-year-old retiree and author, is involved with several organizations that restore historic structures. He said that would like to see the school brought back to its original grandeur, with wooden desks and informational plaques, and reopened to the public.

Smith referenced the now-restored Old Stone School in Dutch Corner, Bedford County, as an example of how residents can come together and save historic buildings.

That building is owned by the Bedford County Historical Society but kept up by volunteers. It was paid for using grants and donations.

“(Dick School House) could be made into something that people would be enticed to go see,” Smith said, adding one option could be donating it to Old Bedford Village, where it would be safe from vandalism and maintained to historic specifications.

Farrow said the society is open to relocating it, but added that would be expensive and neighbors might not approve of that plan.

One estimate by Everett-based mover Randy Miller put the cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to pick the building up, place it on wheels and haul it to a new location.

“The best scenario would be to find a place nearby and take the school through fields rather than on the road,” Miller said.

The building is wedged between a road and a creek that makes the surrounding area marshy and unstable, especially for parking. In 1987, a motorist ran into the side of the building and left a hole that was later repaired.

Most of the upkeep in the past century has been completed by local residents, and the society is grateful for their efforts, Farrow said.

Paul Dick and his brother, Melvin Dick, who lives across from the school house, are direct descendants of the Dick family, and have worked on the property off and on for years.

Melvin has mowed the grass regularly since 2009, and he’s grown “disgusted” in the amount of trash left there. The brothers once placed a flag pole on the site, but it was damaged soon after.

“For me, it’s about preserving the Dick name, more or less,” he said. “There’s so much history there.”

Paul Dick, of Hollidaysburg, noted that many of the families who live around the school are also related to the Dick family, thus making its restoration a personal undertaking for many.

“I would like to see the building stay and be preserved where it’s at,” Paul Dick said. “But, at the same time, I don’t think (people there) would care if it was moved up out of that hole and made to look nice again.”

The Roaring Spring Historical Society will revisit the topic at its spring meeting, Conlon said.

The Blair County Historical Society, too, will revisit the topic in the spring, Farrow said, and hopefully hold a meeting to solicit input on what to do with the building. Board members are open to all options, he said, including “adopting” the school out to a local non-profit that could fix it up.

“Maybe there’s a group out there that would have a use for it,” he said. “We want to be good stewards of the property, but right now we are at a loss.”