Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski The desks, walls and other items in the one-room country school at Heritage Park were damaged by a fire Monday. The building, operated by the Shawano County Historical Society as one of its museums, is being inspected this week to see what can be salvaged.
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Piles of burned books sit outside the one-room country school at Heritage Park on Tuesday following a fire in the building Monday. The exterior part of the building showed very few signs of damage, but the interior was another story.
Fire broke out Monday in an historic schoolhouse on the Shawano County Historical Society grounds, damaging the contents and leaving the building’s future in doubt.
Historical society President Mike Eidahl said many of the 1900s-era desks, books and other historical articles inside the schoolhouse appear to have been damaged by smoke or water.
“It’s pretty good damage,” Eidahl said Tuesday.
The fire was discovered Monday afternoon in an area where officials believe a dehumidifier might have overheated or malfunctioned inside the unoccupied schoolhouse.
Chuck Felts, assistant chief of the Shawano Area Fire Department, said an interior wall was burning and smoke was visible when firefighters arrived at 1:22 p.m. at the historical society grounds at 524 N. Franklin St. in Shawano.
The schoolhouse is one of several historical buildings preserved as artifacts to educate the public about life in the Shawano area during the 19th century and early 20th century. Other properties on the Heritage Park grounds include a house, church, train depot and dairy building.
Felts said firefighters were aware of the schoolhouse’s significance as they were working to extinguish the blaze.
“We were trying to preserve as much of the historical artifacts as we could without damaging them,” he said.
Located along the Wolf River channel in downtown Shawano, the historical society campus is open to public for tours during the summer months. The tours ended in September, and the schoolhouse had been closed for the season.
Eidahl said an employee noticed smoke coming from the building Monday afternoon and discovered the fire inside.
“It kind of was just a smoldering thing,” he said.
Firefighters remained on the scene until nearly 4 p.m.
Felts said the interior wall was damaged and crews punched a hole in the roof, but he believes the one-story building was left structurally sound.
Eidahl said cleanup work would continue before officials can assess the condition of the building. Although the historical society is a private organization, it partners with Shawano County as the owner of Heritage Park. The county owns the schoolhouse and will be contacting its insurance company about making a claim, Eidahl said.
Meanwhile, historical society employees were looking over smoke and water damage to the books and other articles inside the schoolhouse, which was furnished to appear as an authentic one-room schoolhouse of bygone days. Eidahl said it appeared that most of the books were badly damaged or destroyed.
“We’re hoping we can save some of the desks, but we’re not entirely sure yet,” he said.