Riggins gets grant to preserve old school
Jun. 21—GRANGEVILLE — The Idaho County commissioners approved a memorandum of agreement Tuesday with the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office for a grant to upgrade the now-defunct Riggins schoolhouse alongside Riggins Main Street.
The state grant will provide $7,290, with Idaho County donating $4,559 in matching costs. Once the project is completed, Idaho County may request reimbursement for its portion.
Trisha Simonson, superintendent of the Salmon River School District at Riggins, said the grant approval from the state will open up the potential for other grants to upgrade the old schoolhouse.
"We want to be able to preserve the history," Simonson said. "At one point, because of the age of the building and the cost of repairs, they talked about demolishing it. We don't want to do that. It's part of the history of our community and, hopefully, this will open us up to some grants to restore it to its former glory."
Simonson said the goal is to maintain the building's historical character, which is expensive.
"By applying for this grant, we can save the history of our community and make it a usable building," Simonson said. "Right now it's used for storage." She added that, once the building is restored it could be used for a number of other community activities, such as a mental health care facility, a day care or a food pantry. It is also hoped to make the building wheelchair accessible.
The Idaho County Historical Society helped prepare the grant application.
According to "Pioneer Days in Idaho County," by Sr. Alfreda Elsensohn, and "Idaho County Voices," the first schoolhouse in Riggins was built in 1894 from logs hewn on the surrounding hillsides.
"Present-day school inspectors would frown on it," the history said, "for there was but one window and only a fireplace for heat. The first teacher was a man named Mr. Palm, who had charge of 14 pupils."
In 1921 a new school was built in Riggins at a cost of $8,000. In 1940 the Riggins and Pollock districts were consolidated and work began on a new high school. It later became the elementary school before a new elementary school was built behind it. Simonson said there are about 70 students in pre-kindergarten through 5th grade.
In all, Riggins has had five school buildings. During the town's early days a box social was generally held once a year and lunch boxes were sold to bidders. All the profits from dances went to the school, "which was always short of funds," the history reads.
"The schoolhouse was always the focal point of community activities, housing church services, dances, and, in the early days, roller skating and basketball. Some of the larger boys would go up on Preacher Mountain to bring down sacks of talc, which they would spread on the floor. Then they would move all the desks outside and have a basketball game."
Charlie Clay, according to the history, "donated the land for the schoolhouse; it was where the bank is now located. It was a one-room building at first but when that wore out, in about 1922, a two-room building was put up with folding doors between the rooms so that the whole building could be used as a dance hall."
Those dances, according to the history, often grew wild and unruly until the deputy sheriff brought some handcuffs and lengths of chain to town.
"At the next dance," the history reads, "a flying wedge met the troublemakers at the door and they were soon chained to trees around the front of the school yard. ... It took only a few doses of (the deputy's) medicine to tame them down."
Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.
