Warden School
The Warden School is an excellent example of the iconic one-room prairie schoolhouse. Built in 1910/11 for $750, it was lovingly restored by museum volunteers in 2011.
The interior was originally left unpainted and treated with linseed oil, giving the walls the same warm colour as the floor. During restoration, volunteers discovered that the paint contained extremely high levels of lead, making removal impractical. Instead, paint samples were carefully analyzed and matched to the exact colours used during the 1930s.
One of the school's most interesting features is the truth window, which reveals the original wall colour beneath later paint layers.
Another mystery emerged during restoration. A change in flooring near the teacher's platform suggested something unusual had happened. Years later, a former student explained that around 1934 the platform was enlarged by two feet so the growing number of students could perform plays and recitals. When the school later became a riding club headquarters, the platform was removed and plywood was laid down, leaving behind the evidence seen today.
The original slate blackboards were rediscovered behind an oil furnace and carefully preserved. The wood-burning stove has been relocated to the teacher's platform for safety, although it originally stood at the back of the classroom.
Outside the entrance stands a lilac bush that was brought from the school's original location—a living reminder of the students and teachers who once filled this room.
Highlights
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Truth Window
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Original Slate Blackboards
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1913 Teacher's Desk
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Wood-Burning Stove
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Original Lilac Bush
Zeke & Mabel Tour The Schoolhouse
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You can’t wander around a museum without Zeke eventually stopping at the schoolhouse.
“Every town had one,” he said. “And every kid remembers theirs.”
The Warden School was built in 1910 or 1911 for the grand sum of $750 — which Zeke says would barely buy the chalk today. Volunteers lovingly restored the building in 2011.
Originally the inside walls weren’t painted at all. Instead, the wood was treated with linseed oil, so the entire interior had the same warm colour as the floor.
When restoration began, volunteers discovered something called a “truth window” — a small section left untouched so visitors could see the original wall colour beneath later layers of paint.
Turns out the old paint contained so much lead that removing it wasn’t practical. Instead, the current colours were carefully matched to samples from the 1930s.
The chimney was rebuilt and lined as well, which means the wood stove can still warm the room on a chilly day.
But the real mystery appeared when the walls were stripped.
A “paint shadow” showed exactly where the teacher’s platform once stood. When volunteers rebuilt it, they noticed something odd — the floor changed from wood to plywood just before the platform.
Zeke scratched his head when he first heard that.
“Doesn’t make much sense,” he said.
But one day a visitor solved the puzzle. Around 1934 there were simply too many students to fit on the stage for school plays and recitals. So, the parents enlarged the platform by two feet across the room.
Years later, when the building became a riding club headquarters, the stage was removed and plywood was laid down. Mystery solved.
“See?” Zeke said. “Sometimes history just needs the right person to remember it.”
One other thing visitors notice right away: the wood stove sits on the teacher’s platform.
Originally it would have been at the back of the classroom, but during restoration it was moved for safety. “Course if the teacher had a cold winter, they could always hand out extra homework. That’d warm the classroom up real quick.”
“Nothing warms a room quite like thirty children suddenly deciding to behave.”
Zeke glanced toward the desks.
“You know,” he said thoughtfully, “kids sat in here learning their lessons over a hundred years ago.”
Then he paused. “And I bet at least half of them were staring out the window at that lilac bush.”
The very same lilac bush that still grows outside the school today — carried here from the building’s original location.
Proof that some things, like memories and lilacs, are worth bringing along when history moves.