Burnham School featured in 2018 preservation ornament

Members of the Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Commission traveled west of Havre Wednesday to present the first 2018 Preservation Ornament to the owners of the building featured on the ornament, Charlie and Burnie Inman at the Burnham Schoolhouse.

The building is the most-photographed schoolhouse in the entire state, appearing in many different pieces of artwork, book covers and other places, said Havre/Hill County Preservation Commission Historic Preservation Officer Becki Miller.

Charlie Inman said he his wife have owned the Burnham Schoolhouse, since the 1970s. He added that his father and his siblings had actually attended the original school when they were younger, although the original building burned down. After the school had burned down, the new building was built and later moved to where it presently stands, he said.

Inman said that after the school was closed, the building's ownership passed through a few people, with one wanting to turn the building into a grain elevator and another wanting to make it into a studio.

He said he purchased the schoolhouse from artist Don Greytak.

"It's part of our history," Inman said.

The ornament will be for sale at the Havre Chamber of Commerce for $20 starting today, Miller said.

Previous year's ornaments will also be for sale at a discount, she added, including the Hill County Courthouse ornament, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Donaldson Hall at Montana State University-Northern, Fort Assinniboine/Northern Agricultural Research Center, Kiwanis Chapel at Beaver Creek Park and the Clack Elevator in Havre.

Last year's ornament was the Havre Historic Post Office, but the ornaments are sold out, she said.

The money collected from the ornament sales will be put toward preservation projects in the Havre and Hill County area, Miller added.

The ornaments are made by a Colorado artist, who also does ornaments for the historic preservation society in Great Falls, Miller said.

Miller and Montana Preservation Alliance Director Christine Brown started researching Burnham School during a statewide survey done by the alliance.

Miller contacted Brown about the schoolhouse during the survey.

Montana had about 2,700 rural schoolhouses at the height of the homesteading days. It is believed that fewer than 20 percent of those original historic schoolhouses are still standing, Brown told Miller in an email.

The Montana Association of Rural Schools reports that across Montana, about 90 to 100 small rural schools are still operating, Brown said, adding that the number fluctuates up and down every year, and it is estimated about 50 to 60 of those schools are historic.

The Inmans said they were very excited to receive the ornament, with Charlie Inman adding that it will look fantastic on the tree this year.

"I'm overwhelmed," he said, adding that he plans to display it in his home 12 months of the year.

He said he also has the original bell from the original school building that burned down. The North Central Montana Shrine Club has the bell from the building that stands today, he added.

The schoolhouse has been the most-photographed schoolhouse in the state, but Inman said his favorite picture of the schoolhouse is a painting that is on display Northern Montana Care Center. He added that the colors in the painting and the trees, that are no longer there because of beavers, are beautifully done and remind him of what the building looked like years ago.

The schoolhouse also is on the cover of Italian author Andrea B. Nardi's novel "No Shade in South Dakota," a story of pioneers on the prairie available at Amazon.com, and the cover of Charlotte Caldwell's book "Visions and Voices: Montana's One-Room Schoolhouses."

Caldwell's book is now at half-price, $25, with 100 percent of the profits going to Montana Preservation Fund, a grant managed by the Montana Historical Foundation, for the stabilization of historic one- and two-room schoolhouses in Montana.

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Online: Havre/Hill County Preservation Commission: http://www.havrehillpreservation.org/.

Montana Preservation Alliance: http://www.preservemontana.org/.

Montana Historical Foundation: https://www.mthistory.org/. To order a copy of Caldwell's book call 406-449-3770.

Nardi's book is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Shade-South-Dakota-Andrea-Nardi/dp/1720462240/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1529608033&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Andrea%20B.%20Nardi/.