Schoolhouse Renovation Project
If you've driven by the Mountain Brook campus or been to some of the events held there, you know that the old schoolhouse is in need of repair and renovation. Many Mountain Brook residents remember Bill Nickel, who was a driving force behind some of the work that has already been done on that building. Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly in 2017 and the renovation work ceased.
One of our community members and new Board member, Sharon Martin, spent the last few months of 2024 researching what is needed to restart the renovation project on the old schoolhouse. She has worked tirelessly to find help and resources. We want to keep that project moving forward in 2025, but we are going to need even more community support to make that happen.
We are partnering with Preserve Montana to get this project underway. On April 26, 2025, we are hosting a visit from Restoration Director Eli Smith and Preservation Architect Dustin Kalanick. They will assess the old schoolhouse and help the Foundation lay the ground work for moving forward. A core group of 20 participants will spend the day looking at the old schoolhouse and learning about options and resources.
How can you help? We will need to expand our fundraising efforts, obviously, because projects like this cost money. However, there are many ways for people to get involved:
We would love to get oral history interviews of long-time Mountain Brook residents. Those would then need to be transcribed, edited, and archived.
Do you have any old photos? Would you consider letting us borrow them to be scanned and archived?
We need to spread the word about what a wonderful community we have here in Mountain Brook. Word-of-mouth advertising will help us secure donations of funds and materials and funnel additional resources in our direction.
We especially need people with grant-writing experience!
Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer. The Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation does not have any paid staff. All of our events take a lot of people-power, and every little bit helps.
If you have a special skill or interest, let us know and we will find a way for you to help your Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation grow as we head into 2025! Please contact mtbrookfoundation@gmail.org for more information.