GRANGER - Harris Township’s former District 1 school has been given another chance to serve as a community source of pride. The restored one-room school became the W.O. "Butch" Breedlove family home in June 1990.
    "We were really thrilled at the prospect that we might get it," Mrs. (Debra) Breedlove said. Erected in 1892 and virtually destroyed by a devastating fire Sept. 11, 1988, the school underwent delicate reconstruction by local builder Pat Slater and Heritage Construction Co. Inc.
    The District 1 schoolhouse saga begins with the foresight of David and Susan Ringle, who began an educational system that has continued for more than 150 years in Harris Township. Ringle, a Harris Township trustee, donated in 1839 a quarter acre of land for construction of a 14 by 16 foot log schoolhouse at the present day southeast corner of Fir and Brick Roads. Overcrowding in the classroom forced a succession of new buildings over the years on land donated near that corner to the school system by Sam Ringle, David’s son.
    The 1892 schoolhouse saw its last classes leave in 1929. It then became a series of residences. Several interior structural changes occurred over the years but the schoolhouse was designated as a St. Joseph County Historic Landmark in 1976.
    It was the first brick schoolhouse in the Granger area and "one of the very few left in St. Joseph County in its original condition," said the landmarks committee chairman John Oxian. The committee is part of the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and St. Joseph County, of which Oxian is also president. Relatively little had been done to alter the building’s exterior; more interior changes had been made over the years with changes in ownership. " The other important criteria for us was the fact that it was the only schoolhouse to receive landmark designation in Harris Township," Oxian said.
    After the 1988 fire, Schoolhouse Restorations Inc., a non-profit group formed by Slater, sought to purchase the building. Plans were developed to either restore the schoolhouse and give it to the P-H-M School Corporation or to restore it as a residence. Through a lengthy series of events the latter occurred.
    "Three good walls were left. All it really lacked was the fourth wall and a roof" - that view of Slater’s appeared overly optimistic compared to others who said a date with a bulldozer should be the next and final action for the structure, one of the oldest public buildings in Granger. St. Joseph County Building Commissioner Donald Fozo said he would have condemned the building if it hadn’t been an historic landmark.
    A Schoolhouse Restorations sign in the front yard brought a call from Breedlove, the first of six interested parties, who told Slater he and his wife had been looking at the structure.
    The Breedloves had driven by the structure many times and thought it would make a "neat" house. They had at the time a new four bedroom home in Prairie Lane subdivision, but that didn’t deter them from calling Slater. "We saw the Schoolhouse Restorations sign out front and I called Pat immediately," Breedlove said, describing their enthusiasm.
    Theirs was the first of several calls Slater received about the building. "I told them I would put their name on a list and when the time came that the building was in fairly good shape, I would call them," Slater said. "After the use as an actual classroom was a lost cause, I wanted to find a family that would have the capability of finishing the interior painting work; someone that would put in the time and effort that the project deserved," Slater explained. Breedlove, of Breedlove and Bare Heating and Air Conditioning, would be able to do much of the interior work. Mrs. Breedlove would tackle wallpapering and decorative finishing. Slater made the call to Breedlove and from that call evolved the purchase of the building by the Breedloves.