Scott City seeking home for historic rural schoolhouse

Scott City is searching for a home for the Head School, a historic one-room schoolhouse donated to the city earlier this year.

At Monday night's Scott City City Council meeting, Carolyn Pendergrass, chairwoman of the city's Historic Preservation Commission, said her preference is to place the 20-by-30-foot building on the city street that runs in front of the park. The Scott City Park Board has denied an application to locate the schoolhouse within Hawthorne Park.

"I think we can work this out," Mayor Tim Porch said.

The cypress building was donated by Jane Albrecht. Before he died last May, her husband, George, told her he wanted the schoolhouse to go to Scott City. The Head School educated many of the area's farm families before closing in 1940. It was built at the end of the 19th century.

The building currently is on the Albrecht farm on Roth Drive, a mile east of the Scott City limits. It most recently was used as a granary.

A house mover has offered to move the building for free.

In other business, the council:

Approved an ordinance placing new stop signs on Harvard Street at the intersections with Azalea Street and Yale Street. "We have had a barrage of people in here complaining about the speeding," Porch said before the vote. Councilman Rodney Holloway voted against the ordinance.

Porch told Lt. Roy Butler of the Scott City Police Department to be lenient toward Harvard Street motorists until they get used to the stop signs.

Approved the final plat for Park Estates, a 63-lot housing development going in on the south side of Main Street opposite the city baseball complex. Developer Monty Keesee said he will start moving building materials to the site today. Houses in the development are expected to be priced from $90,00 to $120,000.