Sheldon School Falls

It happened unexpectedly, so when I saw a video of it posted on Facebook, I needed to go see for myself. I’m speaking of the demolition of the brick schoolhouse in Sheldon, the place where I had attended school for twelve years and then returned a couple of times to work. Even though the venerable old building built in 1923 lately had stood abandoned and in disrepair, it commanded respectability that alumni held dear. 

As the video had shown, a large machine with a long boom punched through the walls and pulled the structure down in a few hours on August 30. Curiosity led me and the wife to drive down from Fargo the next day to look at the scene. We came upon a void in the skyline where I had grown accustomed to seeing a building stand. A large heap of bricks  and wood remain with no shape or form, leaving it to memory to reassemble them into what they once were. When the roof opened up I imagined a large flock of memories must have flown free to hover and search for the open minds of those who remembered.

The school district sold the property some years back to a company whose plans for it never materialized, was abandoned, and now has been purchased by the Fraedrich family from Enderlin. While I walked around the rubble taking photos, I saw a car pull into the lot and park near my wife who’d chosen to wait there for me. A young mother with her two daughters had gotten out and stood visiting with Mary. When I joined them, I was happy to make the acquaintance of the lady who with her family is responsible for the purchase, demolition, and future development of the site. 

This personable young lady and her girls engaged us with pleasant conversation, talking of hopes and plans for the project and what has transpired. The school building had become a hazardous ruin that required leveling, but the gymnasium still stands. It is the subject of their attention for refurbishing into something that will serve the public as an event center. There is a lot of work ahead  and money to raise to transform it to a suitable condition that will pass any and all future inspections that law requires. Undeterred, she has confidence it will come to fruition.

Upon ending our conversation, I mentioned that my class graduated in what was the brand new gym in 1960, the first event ever held in it, a little bragging point that a few of us claim.  As Mrs. Fraedrich and her girls drove off, I thought too late to recite my class motto to her, “One goal reached, many beyond.” Oh well, she’ll walk through the development phases and realize similar mottoes by herself. She and her girls were off to Fargo to buy more orange security fencing to finish enclosing the area. Mary turned to me and said, “If she gets it done we’ll celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in it.” I can hear music playing four and one-half years from now.