Oak Grove School Endowed Fund

Goal: $15,413.00

Specific Need

The work to restore the 1877 Oak Grove School was just completed in the Fall of 2022. Donations are now needed to help finalize the readiness of the school site for elementary school children to safely visit and utilize the school. To complete this readiness, we need to add a handicap access ramp, a covered outdoor activity pavilion, outdoor on-site restroom facilities, and some tree removal and landscaping of a picnic area on the south side of the school. This will complete the physical readiness of the site for the education and enjoyment of area elementary school children.  

Note: The Oak Grove School Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) charitable, non-profiit organization. All donations are tax deductible. Also, all donated funds received are 100% utilized for the site restoration and development projects. There are zero overhead costs deducted from any donations received.    

Mission

The mission of the Oak Grove School Historical Society is to provide southeast Kansas elementary school children with a memorable hands-on learning experience in early Kansas history that will instill in them a deeper understanding and appreciation for their heritage! This they will do at an 1877 one-room stone schoolhouse on its original site on the Kansas prairie. 

The Oak Grove school is unlike any other former one-room school -  it is historically unique - and has been listed on the both the Kansas and National Historic Site registers. Oak Grove was built on what was once the Osage Indian reservation - and it was built along the Osage Trail, the only road available for travel in the early 1870's.  Children will be able to experience not only what it was like to attend a rural one-room school in 1877 Kansas (writing on slate chalk boards, playing pioneer games, and reviewing U.S. history of the period), but they will also have the chance to stand on the original Osage Trail - and learn about the people who traveled it. They will learn about the history of the Osage prior to Kansas statehood, the struggles of the early pioneers in settling an untamed frontier, and the contributions of the railroads, farming, and entrepreneurship to the development of the region. All this they will experience for themselves on an original 1877 historic site just 6-1/2 miles northeast of Parsons!