Published: July 05, 2008 11:50 pm            

Community tries to save school house

Local residents are sponsoring a garage sale Saturday to raise money to help preserve the historic High Prairie school house.

High Prairie is located on Fairgrounds Road, 6.75 miles south of S.H. 51 and 2.25 miles north of S.H. 33. The sale will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

All proceeds from the sale will be used to maintain the building. Anyone who wants to help with the preservation effort who is unable to attend the sale can send donations to the High Prairie Community Association to Layne Burton, Treasurer, P.O. Box 396, Perkins, Okla., 74059.

High Prairie school’s first building was a log cabin located just south of the present structure. It was destroyed by a tornado in 1893. This tornado also took the life of a nearby resident, James B. Kirk, and injured three of his children.

The second log cabin school house was the site of a great revival led by the Rev. Frank Eden in 1895. This revival was the start of Eden Chapel Church. The second school building was destroyed by fire. Rather than rebuild on the same spot, the school district moved about 1/4 mile north to High Prairie’s present location in 1897.

Ninabelle Hurst Nichols began her 49-year teaching career at High Prairie in 1903-04 and related her experiences in her book, “Vinegar Pie.” At the age of 20, she was responsible for teaching 40 pupils from ages 6 to 20 in grades one through eight. She wrote that there was not one disciplinary problem, which she said was her “proudest remembrance.”

Nichols returned to High Prairie in 1938 for a visit and found that the children of her former students were then attending the school. She returned again in 1955 for a reunion with her former students, and 11 of her 40 pupils attended the reunion.

In 1949, the High Prairie School House was deeded to the community for use as a community building after the school had been consolidated with Perkins (now Perkins-Tryon) School District.

It was the meeting place for a Farmers Union local for many years and used as a voting precinct during elections. In 1953, when Eden Chapel Church burned, High Prairie was the meeting place for the church until the church could be rebuilt.

Other functions include neighborhood improvement and cemetery association meetings, potluck meals and game nights, aerobics classes, family reunions, wedding receptions and anniversary parties.

        

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