A workshop scheduled for late this week in Des Moines will focus onpreserving Iowa’s one-room schoolhouses. Bill Sherman of the Iowa HistoricPreservation Alliance expects dozens of people from across Iowa to takepart in the workshop. Sherman says participants will learn how to recruitvolunteers and visitors in addition to learning important preservationtechniques. About 200 of the century-old, one- and two-room country schoolsare preserved as museums in Iowa, but as many as three-THOUSAND still exist.Sherman says these buildings were often a community’s only public buildingand were more than schools — they were churches, community centers andpolling places. He says one-room schoolhouses had a big impact on Iowa inthe early 19-hundreds. The conference will be held Friday and Saturday atthe Living History Farms Conference Center. Saturday’s edition will includevisits to preserved schoolhouses in Polk and Warren counties. For moreinformation, call 800 434-2039.
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