THE OLD SCHOOLHOUSE WAS LIFTED LAST WEEK AS PART OF CRESWELL HERITAGE FOUNDATION’S EFFORTS IN REPLACING THE FOUNDATION AND THE FRONT PORCH OF THE HISTORICAL BUILDING. CALVIN L. LEWIS CONSTRUCTION, LLC AND HIS CREW ROLLED THROUGH AND SLOPPED THROUGH THE MUD ON MARCH 7 TO GET THE JOBE DONE. Erin Tierney/The Creswell Chronicle
It may have been a mucky, muddy mess last week, with rain and melting snow, but that didn’t stop a job from getting done at Creswell’s Old Schoolhouse. The building at 195 S. 2nd St. was lifted Thursday, March 7 for the Creswell Heritage Foundation (CHF) porch and foundation replacement project.
”CHF has been working toward this (lift) for the past two years,” CHF President Verlean McCoy said. ” We are very pleased to bring it to this point.”
The movers last week placed three layers of large steel beams underneath the building that supported it for the lift. The building remained lifted while the new foundation was constructed.
The Old Schoolhouse will be raised up for several weeks before being lowered.
”Drive by and take a look,” McCoy said.
Calvin L. Lewis Construction, LLC is the general contractor for the Foundation and Porch Replacement Project, and also serves as an historic preservation specialist.
In February, Lewis replaced the porch posts to stabilize the structure for when the building would be lifted, and a construction fence was put up.
CHF was organized in 2017, with its first established goal to restore Creswell’s historic schoolhouse and return it to public use. In February, CHF was presented with the Lane County Historical Society’s 2019 Organizational Excellence Award for its efforts in restoring the building over the past two years.
Upon completion of the foundation replacement project, CHF will continue with the restoration of the exterior and interior of the schoolhouse, with the goal of completion in 2021.
The Old Schoolhouse is historically significant to Creswell and is the only building in Creswell listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The nonprofit’s mission is ”To collaborate within our community to enrich the lives of current and future generations by protecting and preserving Creswell’s physical and cultural heritage.”
For more information on CHF, visit creswellheritagefoundation.org.
More info: contact McCoy at [email protected] or 541-895-3726.
