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Show - ' : ' 1 I ' t i r j l Carson Johnson, on ladder, is aided by Clayton Johnson as they work on Henrieville's old schoolhouse. The town is seeking donations to help build its base from which to obtain grant funds to restore the historic old building built in 1881. Henrieville Seeks Funds To Restore Old School HENRIEVILLE Residents of the tiny community of Henrieville in Garfield County just southeast of Bryce Canyon National Park have started a fund drive to restore their old schoolhousctown hall almost 1 14 years after its original construction construc-tion began in 1881. In a spirit typical of the town's earliest founders, descendants of whom still live here today, current residents maintain the old independent indepen-dent spirit of their ancestors and are determined to "do it themselves" as much as possible. The town is seeking donations to build its base to obtain other funds to accomplish the badly needed restoration. Immediate Im-mediate among its concerns is shoring up the roof to get through the snowfall season ahead. Urgent work will include refraining refrain-ing ihe failed roof structure and realigning re-aligning and restoring the south wall. Already committed to helping help-ing on the roof is the Utah State Energy Office with $8,000 part of which will be used for insulation. The Garfield County Senior Citizens Citi-zens have committed $4,000 to help wilh the south wall and Henrieville Hen-rieville Town has committed the additional $4,000. Dcscret Generation and Transmission, Trans-mission, Inc. has made a $2,500 contribution and Garkane Power Association has added another $1,000 toward the $3,500 needed toward a heat pump to provide both heating and air conditioning for the facility. Actual cash in hand at this time comes to $11,000, and the town hopes to generate interest for donations dona-tions among former residenis and others interested in preserving the history of the area. Tax deductible receipts will be issued on all donations; dona-tions; they may be sent to Henrieville Hen-rieville Historical Preservation Fund, P.O. Box 125, Henrieville, Utah 84736. Wilh only 170 residents and no commercial enterprises, the town lacks any real economic base for survival, much less improvements, but folks in Henrieville like it that way and have resisted change in order to keep their rural farm community com-munity the picturesque scene that so intrigues visitors who pass through. They "like Henrieville the way it was and still is and will work to keep it this way." They have used an architect recommended recom-mended by the Utah Historical Society So-ciety to help determine the best way to approach their project. By doing so, they will be able to qualify to V apply for available grant funds if they can raise some matching funds through donations. Facing $72,022 in costs to shore up the old building, repair its rafters and roof, restore interior and exterior, and upgrade its electrical and mechanical is a major project for this tiny town with no businesses busi-nesses at all, not even a grocery store or a gas station to help provide pro-vide tax income to run the town. The revitalized structure will be used as a civic center, a senior citizen citi-zen center, travel information center, cen-ter, and will sport an information kiosk from which senior citizen staff members and the town clerk will dispense information. After paying all its major commitments, com-mitments, the town has less than $7,000 a year on which to operate and meet its smaller obligations, much generated from property taxes on the 68 residences in town. But restoring the old building is historically important to those who live in Henrieville and many who used to live there and will be of great value to visitors coming to the area. Former old time resident Van Dorn Smith wrote last year that preparation of the lumber for the building was done the old fashioned way, wilh the timber hewn to a square using a broad axe. Then a . pit was dug deeper than a man could stand in, and the limbers laid across the top. One man stood on the timber and another in the pit, each at the handles of a whipsaw, pulling the saw up and down to make the cuts from which the walls were constructed. Lumber for the floor, ceiling and roof came from a sawmill some distance from the town. i Van Dorn Smith remembers the ; original building with one room i and another later added. He said the building was used for all community commu-nity activities, meetings, church, school and for recreational use. Fanny Goulding, wife of Daniel Goulding.one of the early founders of Henrieville, was the first school teacher. Later, Smith remembers the building painted red when he became be-came a student there and he recalls fetching cups of water from his home across the street for his fa- ; voritc teacher Hope Worthcn Goulding. Gould-ing. The school had neither indoor ! toilets nor water. j (See Henrieville School Seeking j Funds Page 3A) Henrieville School From Page 1 Smith acknowledges pranks typical typ-ical of the youth of his day. He said a couple of times on Hallowe'en Hal-lowe'en night, he and his buddies climbed to the belfry at the top of the building and tied the clapper so the bell wouldn't ring the next morning. He said the building's bell was the heartbeat of the town, signifying a variety of events and always letting the youth know when it was time to start school. School continued generation after generation until 1955 when area schools were consolidated in Tropic, about eight miles away. |