A Jefferson County man is using a piece of the past to share literature in his neighborhood.
Dan Patterson, 80, built a free lending library that looks like the old, one-room Lone Dell Schoolhouse that used to serve area children.
Patterson placed his creation on the edge of his neighbor’s property in the 2300 block of Oaker Drive off Lonedell Road near where the old school stood just west of what is now Arnold. He encourages people to stop by the lending library and swap a book of their own for one stocked in the library or pick up a book or donate one.
“I wanted to build a little free library for a couple of years now,” he said. “I built one for a guy I used to work with in the shape of an old red barn. I thought about that for a while, and I wanted to make a connection to the valley. It struck me, what else would be a better connection than the old school?”
The old Lone Dell School was operating in the 1870s, but the actual date of its opening is unknown, according to the Fox C-6 School District website, foxc6.org.
The school originally was named the Spitz School after Robert Spitz, who donated the property to school. The school’s name changed for an unknown reason after 1918, and it closed in 1948 when Lone Dell, also known as District 11, combined with the Bowen, Seckman, Saline and Soulard Schools to create the Fox Consolidated School District.
After that, the school building and property returned to the Spitz family as stipulated in the property deed, according to the C-6 district.
Patterson said he moved to the Arnold area in 1973 after building his home on Oaker Drive. The former Lone Dell School had already ceased operating, and he said a family was living in the building at the time.
He said he believes the schoolhouse was demolished about 40 years ago.
Fox C-6 named the modern Lone Dell Elementary School, which opened Nov. 5, 1990, at 2500 Tomahawk Drive, after the original Lone Dell School.
“I think it is clever that (Patterson) has done that in the valley where the school used to be,” said Fox C-6 Board of Education member Jim Chellew, who worked in the district as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent before retiring in 2009. “We named the new Lone Dell (Elementary) for that Lone Dell.
“More than anything else it sends a message to our students and supports our efforts to encourage kids to become good readers and to understand the value and level of enrichment you can create in your life by reading.”
Creating
Patterson is a retired carpenter. He said he worked for Mattingly Lumber and Millwork of Granite City, Ill., for 26 years before retiring in June.
“They (Mattingly) have a mill shop where custom millwork is done,” he said. “That is what I did for them. An architect would want a certain feature for a house or building that you couldn’t go to the hardware store and buy, so I would make it.”
Patterson said he began working on the library in February, and he finished it and placed it on a pole where Oaker Drive splits near the end of his subdivision.
The lending library was modeled after the old Lone Dell School.
He used old pictures of the school building to craft his lending library, and he built his model to scale by measuring the foundation. He said the stone foundation was roughly 24-by-36 feet, and his library is about 16-by-28 inches.
Three walls and roof of the library are made from PVC. A fourth wall along one side of the model features two glass doors that open so people may reach in to drop off or pick up books. About 50 books fit inside the library.
On the front of the model, the words “Lone Dell School” are carved into a vent near the top of the exterior wall, and the front door is under a covered porch with two steps that lead to the landing in front of the entrance. Patterson included figures of three children on the porch.
He said the porch is his favorite feature of the library.
“There was a picture online that had eight or 10 kids and four or five adults around the porch,” he said. There was another picture that I think was from the 1800s that had a whole bunch of people standing in front of it. I went to Hobby Lobby and Schaefer’s Hobby Shop looking for kids, windows and doors.”
Patterson said Ron Swaller, who owns the property where the old Lone Dell school stood, still has some of the stones that used to make up the foundation for the one-room schoolhouse.
“I plan to put them around the base (of the lending library),” he said. “That way people can stand on them and not get in the mud if it is raining. It is another connection to the old school.”
Patterson said his wife, Rita, is an avid reader. The couple used many of her books and children’s books they had and some of his woodworking magazines to fill the library.
“I was like, ‘I probably have some books we can put in there and share with the neighbors,’” Rita said. “It is beautiful. It looks like the picture he has of the old schoolhouse.”
Patterson said after he put the library up, he went around to his neighbors to tell them about it. He and Rita said they have seen new books come into the library, but they have not seen anyone swapping out books.
“I hope it continues to be used,” Patterson said.
Lone Dell connection
Patterson said he was never in the schoolhouse, but he knew people who lived in the building.
He also said two of his grandchildren, Cayden and Olivia Hopkins, attended the current Lone Dell Elementary, but they have now moved to Vermont.
Before his grandchildren left, he showed them the library.
“I told them a bit of the history,” he said. “They were happy to see it. I think they liked the connection to Lone Dell.”
Patterson said he has been to the modern Lone Dell Elementary, which has a picture of the original school building.
He said before he started building his library he went to the school with the intention to ask the administrators if they would want it, but he noticed it already had a lending library and decided to just place it near his home and where the old school stood.
The Lone Dell Elementary lending library is registered with the Little Free Library, a nonprofit group based in St. Paul, Minn., which promotes the book-sharing program.
“I thought about putting it up in front of the school, but I didn’t want to ask them to change it out,” Patterson said.
Fox C-6 Superintendent Paul Fregeau said he appreciates Patterson’s creation.
“Anytime there is a place where kids can access a book to read, it is going to be a positive thing for our community,” he said. “I appreciated the nostalgia and sharing with the community a way for kids to read. Reading is the gateway to success.”