Imagine you are walking up to a small town’s museum and see your last name stamped on a brick right underneath your feet. This scenario can be a reality for Beacon Falls residents. 

Town officials are currently asking for donations to renovate the one-room Rimmon Hill School House into a small museum. Mike Krenesky, Beacon Falls Municipal Historian, is running the project. 

“The decision for me [to take the project] was determined by the fact we needed to try and preserve the school house because it’s a major part of the school system’s history in Beacon Falls,” said Krenesky. 

In order to renovate the school house, the town will need to come up with an estimated $75,000. The money will be used towards completely reworking the building’s infrastructure. It does not, however, include any utilities the building may need. With everything taken into account, the town is determined to raise $100,000. 

This money will come from state grants, and hopefully, townspeople. To reach people within town, Krenesky came up with the “Brick Fundraiser.”

“You purchase a brick and you get three lines of text that will be engraved into it,” explains Krenesky. “The plan is to take those physical bricks and build a walkway leading up to the school house.”

This plan allows residents to be involved with the project by raising money to support it. The bricks are sold for $100 each. 48 have been purchased so far. 

“We have to bring the building up to twenty-first century standards, so this $4,800 is very meaningful as we’re just getting started,” said Krenesky. 

Of course, the historical society is not only relying on donations. Since the building is considered an historic site by the State of Connecticut, the town is eligible for certain grants. 

Back in 2007, Krenesky applied for the one-room school house to be classified as an historic building because he knew it would benefit the future decision to renovate. 

The school house is an important historical artifact for past, present and future residents of Beacon Falls since Beacon Falls has such a rich history of shoe factories, trolley stops, and school houses. All this history will be presented within the school house museum for everyone.

Krenesky even has desks from the three original school houses in Beacon Falls that will be on display.  The Rimmon School House included, the other two school houses in Beacon Falls were called Center School and Nyumph School. These two have been taken down, so it is incredibly important to the historical society to preserve the Rimmon location.

Talk of renovation has been going on for years. The most recent project before this was in favor of completely relocating it. Led by Steve Ruhl and Paul Geary, the relocation was dismissed when the cost to repair damages upon moving the school house proved to be too much, along with other factors.

These damages included years of stagnant activity and water leaks. Since the building has not been used for anything since Raymond Lafferty ran an antique store out of it around 1965,  no heat flow has been implemented, resulting in increased rust and mold. The roof has the most damage as there is a huge hole providing an entryway for any water to come through. The floorboards and walls inside the school house have any and all kinds of water damage from over the years. 

To prevent any further damage, the town has placed a tarp on the roof reducing the risk of more water leaks. 

Once renovations do begin, which could be a while from now, Krenesky is hoping to put together a building committee to help fix damages. This committee will include townspeople, volunteers and town officials.  

“I would love to see the schoolhouse as a small museum with town antiques,” said Jeremy Rodorigo, one town citizen. “I would even help run it if I was asked.”

This school house’s ownership was passed around from Derby in 1779 to Oxford in 1830 and then to Beacon Falls in 1871. It has been through so much historically that the town is excited to see it finally fixed up and opened to the public. 

Beacon Falls is ready to put on their hard hats and get to work making this schoolhouse a true representation of the town’s history.