Repairs begin for Beulah schoolhouse

A year after the people of Beulah asked for permission to save the old schoolhouse that serves as their community building, Keith Haiar of the Beulah Civic Committee gave the Crook County Commission an update on progress so far. The building’s future fell into uncertainty when it was deemed unsafe and the community’s polling station was moved elsewhere.

Beulah locals did not want to lose the building, however, and offered to take on the cost and responsibility of fixing the damage and preventing future deterioration. Issues with the building included water leakage, deterioration of the foundations and the need for crack sealing and regrading of the adjacent land, as well as necessary sewer upgrades and reinforcement of the foundation walls.

Since the discussion in 2020, Haiar said the civic committee has reformed and elected a whole new board. A clean-up day was held at the end of May and a fall fundraiser raised quite a bit of money for the repairs.

The foundation issues were partly caused by the roof drainage landing directly on it, he said, so gutters and downspouts have now been added. The next project will be to reinforce the building using structural steel anchored to the floor and ceiling.

“It’s quite a bill, but not unobtainable,” he said.

Haiar asked for the county’s assistance in the form of a line item on the county’s budget. While fundraising efforts will still be paying for the materials, this would allow the committee to make use of the county’s sales tax exemption.

“It’s a county building, I don’t know why [we] wouldn’t,” commented Commissioner Jeanne Whalen.

Haiar told the commission that there has been a lot of support from the community for this project and plenty of willingness to donate. Another clean-up day is planned for late spring and additional projects will begin, such as painting the building.