What is a passion project? Farmgirl Films is a passion project. Filming is a passion. When I first started I was just filming silly videos with my little cousins. Eventually it worked its way into a business and I also started teaching it at school. A passion project is something that you might not have the time for, might not have the money to do, or might not know how to do it, but it is something that you HAVE to do because it is part of who you are. Below is more about one of my current passion projects.
GILL SCHOOL-Logan County, KS
I have driven past this little school my entire life. It was built in 1888 and this school is where three generations of my family were educated. It is also where my grandma and great-grandma taught. One of my relatives was on the school board when it this little one room school first came into existence. This little school is where countless area children were educated including one that went on to be a self-taught paleontologist and now has fossils he discovered on display in different places around the county.
Here are some other interesting historical items about our little school.
Some or all of the stone used to build the school may have come from Fort Wallace. George Gill is the man that donated the ground for the school to be built, and he and his family moved to the ground after first living in the hospital at the fort after the fort was decommissioned. Very specific records were kept and are in our possession that detail payments made for the school to be built. There is not payment recorded for paying anyone to quarry rock. It would make sense that rock from Fort Wallace was transferred over to be used since most of the rock from the fort eventually made it into houses or buildings around the area.
Several prominent Wallace citizens are listed in the clerk record as having provided materials to build the school.
There is a small foundation to the north of the school where a coal shed used to be. There are also two holes to the north and northeast where the outhouses used to be.
Paul McNall was the final teacher at Gill School and it was the first teaching job he ever had. He was talked into taking the position by board members. He was a popular teacher and took students fishing, sledding on car hoods and caught ground squirrels in the school with fishing poles. He also may or may not have been thrown in a ditch full of snow by the students at one point.
WHAT IS OUR GOAL?
Our goal for this school is to preserve it for future generations so that they might understand more about school in our area when it was first settled. Area schools would be able to travel to the Gill School and experience first hand what school was like back in the late 1800s.
Yes, this little school has become a passion project to my family and I. Can we afford it? Not really. Are we passionate about it? Definitely. A little group of community neighbors has come together to work on this project. It is a slow process but we are getting there. Here are some of the things we have done thus far.
Cover the roof: In order to prevent more deterioration of the building, we covered the roof with plastic used to store corn when it is harvested in the fall. It has worked very well and held up through the western Kansas winds with only a few repairs.
Get the school listed on the State of Kansas Register of Historic Places: This is a crucial first step to gaining funding for the project through grants.
Salvage old doors from a building in Garden City that would be period correct to use on this school when the time comes. Clean up some of the area around the school including downed trees
Clean up the interior of the school and salvage any original items possible like bead-board and flooring.
Board up the windows and door: This was the last step to keeping critters out of the building to preserve what we can.
So, where are we now…….
Our next steps will be slow, big surprise. There are a lot of logistics involved with getting grant money for a project like this. One huge obstacle is that most grant money comes from organizations that want to donate their money to a non-profit organization. So that is where we are at this point. We are trying to work through the legal paperwork and figure out how to best proceed.