Shelby Fractional District No. 1 Schoolhouse - Shelby Township, MI
N 42° 40.893 W 083° 01.876
17T E 333579 N 4727452
Andrews School is a single room schoolhouse located at the Shelby Township Municipal Offices with several other relocated structures.
Waymark Code: WM15YFT
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 03/23/2022
Views: 1
Shelby Township, as a Bicentennial Project, sought to purchase, remove and restore the building. In April of 1975 the building was sold to the Shelby Bicentennial Committee for $1.
One of the conditions of the sale was that the building be moved within 90 days.
The original plan was to use an Army cargo helicopter from Selfridge to drop a hook an sling arrangement around the building and fly it to its new location. It was later decided that this might crush the building, so they attempted to lift it by its roof. The roof came off! Finally, a U.S. Army Transport crew and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moved the building by ground transport to its present location.
There were many problems! The concrete foundation didn’t fit, the building was placed on the foundation backwards, the roof was damaged beyond repair, the walls were weakened, and most of the remaining tenants, wood-eating beetles, moved with the building!
A master carpenter, Heinz Lambertz, and three assistants were hired with Federal funds to solve the problems. A new roof was put on just weeks before the first snowfall. An exterminator rid the building of its inhabitants, wobbly walls were secured to the foundation, and the ceiling was braced against the gabled roof. The back of the building was made to look like the front as doors and what was once a cloakroom were moved. Insulation and new wood siding were added.
The bell tower and its original bell were reinstalled adding to the charm of this one room Schoolhouse. -
Shelby History