Forest Grove Schoolhouse looks to grow this Fall after reopening
The school looks to grow after reopening in Fall 2019
BETTENDORF, Iowa (KWQC) - From 1873 to 1957 Forest Grove School was home to generations of kids from kindergarteners to eighth who lived within a two-mile radius of the Bettendorf building. Following its closure, the school began deteriorating and after decades of neglect, was close to a complete collapse in 2011.
Then, Sharon Andresen and the Forest Grove School Preservation Effort went to work to not only prevent a collapse but to restore the building altogether. After raising money in 2012 to build a new foundation for the building, the school finally opened in 2019.
“We were good to go, we were so excited about having the schoolhouse open for visitors, and then of course you know the rest of that story,” Andresen said.
The building had reopened for less than a year before COVID-19 forced the school to close for over a year. Then, in May 2021, the classroom reopened.
“It’s been a little remarkable, a lot of Saturdays we’ll have maybe up to 30 people here of course that includes adults and kids and we have great things that we do here to engage all those age groups,” Andresen said.
The reopening comes at a special time when a few months later, Forest Grove Elementary opened just down as the newest building in the Pleasant Valley School District.
“For us, it’s really exciting, I hope it’s equally as exciting for the Pleasant Valley Schools, we love that all of their new elementary schools are being named after the old one-room schools,” Andresen said, “We’re honored to have this brand new school named after the old country school, we hope that we can have some interactions with them where they come in and spend some time here.”
Now, Andresen is looking to share the schoolhouse’s story. The building is looking to add volunteers and docents to allow more visiting and touring opportunities. Andresen said in October the building will hold reenactments as well.
“The further we get down the road it’s more important now for generations to look back and see how kids were educated,” Andresen said.
If you’d like to learn more about the project, schoolhouse, volunteering, tours, and more, call (563) 332-5859 or visit forestgroveschool.org.
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