Effort underway to save historic Creek County school

Lone Star School was founded in a two room school house in 1910 and has grown to more than 700 students. The original brick school building has sat idle since the 60's when students moved into a new

Friday, August 26th 2005, 10:35 am

By: News On 6

Lone Star School was founded in a two room school house in 1910 and has grown to more than 700 students. The original brick school building has sat idle since the 60's when students moved into a new facility.

As News on 6 reporter Rick Wells explains, some folks in Sapulpa would like to put some life back in the old building.

The old brick 2-room school was closed down in the early 1960's. Former student Lee Ann Duncan: "Probably right about here is where my desk was she had the first grade on the front row." Lee Ann Duncan started school in the building then moved to the new building early in the second grade. "We came in cleaned out our desks, carried all our school supplies, we march in single file up the dirt road, the road weren't paved yet." That was 1963 and she's never been back inside.

Lone Star School was built in 1910. Some former students have brought in early class photos. A Sapulpa family owns the old building now and it's become a catch-all. Lone Star Superintendent Dave Pritz would like to see the building restored to some educational purpose, but there would be lots of work. "Still has the old blackboards and you can see the configuration of two classrooms." We found some old text books from who knows when. Lee Ann Duncan: "You might find my name in one."

We found spelling workbooks with the tests filled out. There were early readers and reference books.

Returning to the old school for the first time in 40 years is kind of a mixed blessing. Lee Ann Duncan: "sad to see it in disrepair, but exciting." Exciting for what it might become.

The centennial of the original Lone Star School will come up in 2010, and they home by then to have something new happening in the old building by then. If former students have mementoes of the old building, the Lone Star District would love to have them.