Classrooms are a place for eager and enthusiastic minds. It’s no different inside the Historic Oxford Schoolhouse, says April Bishop. Bishop is a docent at the Leawood schoolhouse, located in Ironwoods Park, 14701 Mission Road. It is her job to guide visitors through the experience of a one-room schoolhouse. Often, the adult visitors generate the narrative. “They say, ‘I had this desk’ or ‘That photo looks like my schoolhouse’,” Bishop said. “Instantly, they have a connection with it or knew someone who went to a one-room schoolhouse. It’s mostly them talking about their memories rather than me talking about information.” Indeed, one-room schoolhouses were once plentiful across rural America, including Johnson County. Many operated into the early 1960s, Bishop said. The Oxford Schoolhouse operated until 1955 at 135th Street and Mission Road. It is one of the oldest schools in Kansas, having been open from 1877 to 1955. After 1920, it was converted into an elementary school and used until the student body became too large. Eventually, development reached the schoolhouse’s doorsteps. It was moved to Ironwoods Park in 2003, renovated and reopened as a historic site in 2004. The only modern change was to added air conditioning and heating. The Leawood Historic Commission received the 2005 Award for Excellence for Preservation Advocacy from the Kansas Preservation Alliance.
Source: Joco 913 News
