Mowry Schoolhouse and Historic Preservation

This past Sunday, there was an article in The Argus about the Mowry Schoolhouse and that it might soon face the wrecking ball. Newark says that it would cost $850,000 to renovate the 129 year old building. The building was moved to Ardenwood Regional Park in 1984 with plans to restore it. Newark is investing $10,000 in an environmental impact report to "study whether the 129-year old building should be destroyed."

As President of the Museum of Local History, I feel some obligation to do something about saving an historic building like the schoolhouse. Preservation is one of the corner stones of any historic organization. The Museum covers the history of Fremont, Newark and Union City, just like our sister organization, the Washington Township Historic Society.

As much as I would like to do something, the reality is that the Museum, nor WTHS, have the manpower or the financial resources for taking on such a project. The $10,000 being spent on a EIP is more than the annual income of both organizations (very much more).

The only organization that has any hope of restoring the building is a government organization, possibly backed by angel inventors (say, somebody that tons of money in Silicon Valley).

The sad truth is that this problem did not happen overnight. The schoolhouse has been sitting at Ardenwood park for 29 years. What condition was it in back then? Was there work to stop the building from deteriorating any further?

Too many times I've seen a historic building abandoned and when it is falling down, government will step in and say "oh, look, it's too far gone to save" and tromp out the wrecking crew. Even those building covered by a historic ordinance have fallen to this fate. The deSa house in Union City was "protected" by the Historic Lankmark and Overlay Zone ordinance. Even when the city knew that the building was abandoned, there was no enforcement of the part of the ordinance that required that the building be maintained.

Time will tell if the Mowry Schoolhouse will be saved or become a pile of kindling. Maybe the lesson to be learned is to protect our historic buildings before they get into such a state. I will talk to the Boards of both the Museum and WTHS and see if we can be a little more vigilant in watching our historic buildings and advocating for their preservation.