Photo courtesy Tony Libel
Troy, Kan. – Fire destroyed an old abandoned schoolhouse Tuesday morning in Northeast Kansas.
Both the Wathena and Troy fire departments were called out around 7:30 a.m. to a structure fire around the 1600 block of Peck Road in rural Troy Kan.
Wathena Fire Chief Tony Libel said when he arrived on scene the building was totally engulfed, with flames reach 30 to 50 feet in the air and black smoke billowing out. He said there was no way to save the structure at that point.
“We let the fire itself burn inside the building,” said Libel.
Tony Libel used with permission
There was no electricity or gas hooked up to the structure and Libel said it did not appear to be used for anything.
The schoolhouse was once La Grange district number 30.
It was a one-room school house that was first built in the early 1900s and closed in 1959.
John Wiedmer is a Troy resident who attended grades first through fourth at La Grange from 1955 until the building was forced to shutdown in 59.
Wiedmer and eight other classmates then had to transfer to the Troy school because there were not enough kids to keep the building open.
“One teacher taught all eight grades,” he said. “It was different then going to a big school.”
Wiedmer said one of the things he remembers most about going to school there was cleaning the floors every Friday.
“We would roll the desks aside and put down the floor polishing compound and the kids got to slide on that and they would use the dust-mop to clean the floors,” he said.
The building was also used for farmers to gather and school get togethers.
Libel said the cause of the fire that destroyed the school is hard to determine.
“I don’t honestly know,” said Libel. “I don’t know if it’s possible that somebody was using it hunting, I don’t know. There’s no way to have it investigated.”
The property owner is not yet known.
Libel said because there is no way to determine the cause of the fire the Kansas State Fire Marshall will not be called out to investigate.
Photos courtesy Doniphan County Library District #1:
