Shumway School House Restoration

"Greetings Shumway relatives. As Dale Shumway spoke at the Charles Shumway Family Reunion in July of 1997, he mentioned the need to restore the Old Shumway School House. Plans for the restoration were already underway, but we need assistance.

The little town of Shumway, AZ is named for Charles Shumway who built a grist mill there. The Shumway School House, built in 1900, still stands but it has a crack from roof to foundation on the North East Corner. Many of us never attended school there, nor has the school bell rung to call children to school or church during the last 50 years. The lot is large with old cottonwoods, pesky elms, cedars and cacti. The brick in the building is a soft local brick, a heritage brick if you will, and through the years names have been etched into the soft brick to create a history of its own. 1904-1908 - and on to 1997 - hardly a reachable brick that doesn't tell a story. The building is on the National Registry of Historic Buildings. When Laura Saline and others began to restore the building in 1960 they took windows from Kirk Hatch's home in Taylor when it was torn down to enlarge the school grounds there and replaced the gaping window hollows with pioneer windows. They found old brick and repaired the North West and South West corners where bricks were being carried off by children to build with. The inside had suffered a fire, and the interior has been cleaned up and painted the original color. They scraped through many coats of paint to discover it. The lot never had a well, nor does it have a septic tank. The building will fall down within a relatively short time if some comprehensive restorations are not made. Our architectural study suggests two years under favorable circumstances.

As we are sponsoring fund raisers to restore and save this old building, we visit it to feel of its spirit. The town of Shumway is tranquil - no businesses are allowed. The paved street that leads into town crosses Silver Creek and the green fields and meandering creek cast a spell of yesteryear. Our first goal is to stabilize the building.  This has to be done by professionals. Once it is stabilized we can begin to add the components that will make it into a usable community center.  An estimate for the restoration of the building is attached. A second phase would be to build restrooms and a kitchen area in a building, not attached to, but behind the School House with a covered walkway to connect the two buildings. In keeping with the names on the school house we envisions making our own memories as we build a heritage fence around the lot, with the children's names who contribute to it, attached on professionally made name plaques. We hope that the fence can be contributed by children working for their parents and sending in the money - foot by foot. I want my grandchildren's names on the fence and I hope you do. The kitchen and restroom area will be constructed from similar brick. We plan to have plaques noting the contributors. The names on the school house were graffiti, turned treasure with age. The plaques on the fence and buildings will be treasures because they will demonstrate the group effort and generosity of each of you willing to contribute and preserve this historical treasure. Restoration estimates are listed below. We hope this letter gives you a vision of possibilities -- and that you will contribute to make this restoration possible." Lenn & Carmen Shumway

The old Shumway School house, named for Charles Shumway is a one room red brick school house which is a treasure which needs to be preserved. After restoration It will cost considerable to maintain the building and so the foundation needs to look beyond just the costs of restoration and construction of some ancillary buildings. They need an endowment of sufficent funds for maintainence and operation.

Walls and foundation               25,079.00
Roof Structure & Covering       15,889.00
Floors                                     1,992.00
Windows and Doors                  7,255.00
Ceilings                                     525.00
Interior Wall Finishes                2,020.00
Site Features and Drainage          760.00
Electrical/Air Conditioning         5,100.00

Architectural and Structural
Engineering Design Fees            5,800.00

Total                                    $64,420.00

The address for contributions is: Taylor/Shumway Heritage
Foundation
Box 566
Taylor, AZ 85939