Bob Gilreath was in Gay, MI recently and had the opportunity to go inside the Gay Schoolhouse, which the Keweenaw County Historical Society has been working at restoring and preserving the history of that learning center in the community.

He said, "Twenty some years ago he was at the Gay Schoolhouse, when the person mowing the lawn asked him if he wanted to see the inside. What a shame it was, roof leaking, plaster falling off walls or gone completely. Back stairs falling in, it was ready for the wrecking ball. Kudos to the Keweenaw County Historical Society for taking on the restoration project. What a SAVE they've made."

You can see from Bob's photos here, all the work they've put in so far, putting several classrooms back together, restoring windows, preserving other historical items from the town, including the altar from the St. Joseph Catholic Church that was located in Gay. They saved it back in the 80's, before the bulldozer took the church building down. It is now preserved on the second floor of the Schoolhouse.
The following link gives you a little more background on the school, along with a link for donating if you'd like to help with the continuing restoration project: Gay Schoolhouse.

VERY cool!!!

Oh, it does my heart good to see it restored so well. They have done a fantastic job on the school!

Sorry that the church was flattened but so glad to see they saved the Altar.

Great tour of one of our past educational institutions. I would like to see a lot more historical preservation and restoration happening.

Awesome pictures! I love visiting those old
buildings. Brings back so many memories. Thanks
for these!

I remember those desks with the ink wells in them. Spent many bored hours staring at those desktops.

They are doing an excellent job preserving local history. Thanks 4 sharing.

I wonder of this reader was used in this school:

http://archive.org/stream/newnormalfourth00raubgoog#page/n7/mode/2up

Nice accomplishment!
Johnofmi: I too, remember those old wooden desks and especially the scent when we were asked to put our heads down. They smelled like...well, "old wooden desks". Some memories never go away.

I think I remember hearing that at one time someone started to refurbish the school to make apartments or condos out of it.

The school restoration looks amazing! So much
history about this school where kids learned about
history and much more.

sooo worth preserving; and a great job doing it!
Kudos to the Society for their foresight, and hard
work! :)

I will make a point of visiting this building the next time I get to
Gay. I passed through the town with my cousin while we were
exploring the Keweenaw a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for telling
us about this.