Beulah Schoolhouse receives much needed cleanup

Thirty years ago, in July 1990, the Beulah Schoolhouse was given new life with a fresh coat of paint, in anticipation of the Centennial Celebration on August 5, 1990. On Saturday June 6, the Beulah community gathered to begin to bring the Beulah Schoolhouse back to new life once again.

Originally used as a one room schoolhouse for grades 1-8, recent decades saw the schoolhouse used as for meetings for the Beulah Beavers 4H Club, as a voting polling place, Birthday Club lunches and holiday parties. As use dwindled, so did maintenance.

Although several neighbors and friends of Beulah contributed with lawn mowing, and interior cleaning both before and after each use, it had been quite a while since the community had come together for a massive clean-up effort. Spurred by the moving of the polling place from the schoolhouse to the Aladdin exit rest area, after the ceiling in the entryway collapsed, community organizers decided not to give up on the schoolhouse quite yet.

Keith Haiar and Joe Julian, part of the group that is assessing the structure to form future plans, decided to try to get some basic clean-up done before hay season and summer activities made scheduling difficult. Reaching out on the community bulletin board, located in the StateLine Station, and on a brand new Facebook page, they had no idea who would show up.

“We halfway thought it would be just our families,” said Julian, “But we figured we’d give it a shot.”

Saturday brought almost 30 people, along with equipment ranging from brooms, rags and a dump truck to tractors, bobcats and a gator. Dead trees were removed and others were trimmed up to let more light onto a perpetually soggy field. Initial efforts of grading to improve drainage were made as well.

The basement of the schoolhouse, home to a haunted house for several decades, received a major transformation. One dump truck load later, “the old Halloween haunted house finally bit the dust” said Haiar, as the basement was cleaned out of a six-foot spider, a line of haunted pants, multiple bones, tombstones and even a coffin.

The props weren’t quite as foreboding as the years of cobwebs, animal droppings and even a snakeskin, but the workers persevered. Even the restrooms, which had been boarded up for decades, were opened up to the air, and were relieved of the first few layers of grime. 

Those who pitched in included Tyler Lindholm, the Williamsons, Ayers, Reineckes, Crowders, Quades, Julians and Haiars. Beulah was well represented!