Old Red Schoolhouse

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm happy to pass it along. Back in 1872, the town of Trinity started its educational life in a one-room log structure, built near Cedar Grove Cemetery. That was the beginning.

Nothing fancy, nothing permanent, just four walls and a desire to get something going. But towns grow, and ambitions grow with them, and by 1897 a two-story frame schoolhouse had risen on this very site. It stood here for fourteen years, until 1911, when it was moved several blocks northwest to serve African American students.

The site didn't sit empty long. Under Superintendent J. Woolam Bright, construction of a new brick building began that same year, 1911.

Now, brick buildings and grand plans have a way of taking their time, and this one was no different. Many delays. But by 1915, the doors finally opened.

Prairie style, T-plan, built to house every grade level under one roof. And it did exactly that, right up until an adjacent high school was completed in 1928. After that, the building kept right on going.

Folks started calling it Old Red, and Old Red served as a schoolhouse for eighty years. Then came the 1990s, and word got around that the building was slated for demolition. That's when concerned citizens and former students stepped up, worked alongside the school district, and made sure Old Red wasn't going anywhere.

Eighty years of lessons learned inside those brick walls, and the building itself turned out to be the last lesson worth fighting for.

What the marker says

Trinity's first schoolhouse was a one-room log structure built in 1872 near Cedar Grove Cemetery. A two-story frame schoolhouse that stood on this site from 1897 to 1911 was moved several blocks northwest to serve African American students. Under Supt. J. Woolam Bright, construction of a new brick building began here in 1911, and after many delays it opened by 1915. The prairie style, T-plan building housed all grade levels until completion of an adjacent high school in 1928. "Old Red" served as a schoolhouse for 80 years. When it was slated for demolition in the 1990s, concerned citizens and former students worked with the school district to preserve the historic building for continued use.