Dusty school building gets approval for fair site

Whitman County’s board of adjustment unanimously approved a plan to move the former Jones Schoolhouse from Dusty to the Palouse Empire Fairground at Mockonema.

The 24 X 48 foot schoolhouse was donated to the fair by the Repp family, which purchased the school from the Dusty rural fire district.

Bob Reynolds, fair manager, said Catlow Structural Lifting of Spokane has been contacted to move the building. Costs of the move are expected to come from the fair foundation.

Changes in buildings for the fairground at Mockonema are required to go through the board of adjustment because the fair is located in the county’s agricultural zone. The fair has an conditional use permit and any changes require a change in conditional use.

The plan is to put the schoolhouse on the fairgrounds and use it as a museum dedicated to the county’s old school system. It will also be used as a small meeting room for fair and 4H groups.

Whitman County Historical Society plans to add classic school furniture to the building which still has an old fashioned black chalkboard.

The school was built in 1895 and children from the neighborhood east of Dusty studied there until 1942.

It was later used for Dusty BB Club meetings for several years.