On Monday, November 17, the old Moroney School building just to the north and west of Merna was lifted onto a pair of heavy steel I-beams and readied for the trip to its new home.
By 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning, the big yellow Star House Moving truck was underway with the school house behind. The building was heading 17 miles to the southeast, to the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway Visitors Center to join the Sod House and Red Barn already on site.
Escorting the one-room school house on wheels were the Custer County Sheriffs Office and Custer Public Power. The latter a critical element, working ahead of the building to ensure the building would clear any power lines it needed to cross under, or safely lift those that it would not.
Once the schoolhouse reached Highway 2, the pace picked up, at least some. According to The Star Moving driver speeds of up to 25 to 30 miles an hour were expected on the highway.
Power lines were not the only hazard to be navigated on the way to the visitor’s center. Three sets of stoplights in Broken Bow at 9th, 8th and 1st Avenues stood between the school building and its new home. The school and driver were undaunted however, smoothly slaloming between the mast arms and carrying on their way.
By 10:30 the building was straddling its new foundation, poured earlier in the summer. In a process impressively intricate for involving such large equipment, the one-room schoolhouse was gradually perfectly aligned and lowered to alight on the concrete walls.
On a brisk November afternoon, the one-time District 48, or Westdale Schoolhouse, now referred to as the Moroney Schoolhouse was settled in its final home at the Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway Visitors Center, awaiting more to come.
Organizers are already planning for the renovation, to include red cedar shingles and new siding on the exterior, and possibly even the re-installation of the original stove that kept generations warm through the winter.
Stay tuned to Sandhills Express and KCNI/KBBN as we continue to follow the history and future of the historic Moroney Schoolhouse.
