WTA freshmen Anatoliy Suprunchuk, Maxim, Pyshnyak and carpentry instructor Wayne Bush are recreating shutters for the Wyben one-room schoolhouse from a fragnment that was found under the building. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – Students in the Woodworking Department at Westfield Technical Academy are working to re-create five pairs of window shutters for the Wyben/West Farms Schoolhouse Restoration Project. The students are working from a remnant discovered under the building and a document provided by the group seeking the restoration.
Wayne Bush, who runs the carpentry shop side for the program at the school, said that Dick Patterson, project coordinator at the school house, had reached out to them after discovering the old shutter, presumably from 1861 when the school was built.
Bush, who has been at the school for six years, said that it was an interesting project for them, because it was an opportunity to learn about old style joinery. “They didn’t use power tools,” he said, adding that the students would try to re-enact the hand-made shutters that used dowels, and mortise and tenon joinery, while still using power tools.
Bush has freshmen and seniors working on the project. He said he went with some of the students to visit the school, and do preliminary measurements of the windows. The fragment that was found had partial sides and top, and one or two slats, which helped to guide the recreation. “That’s better than nothing,” Bush said. He said the students figured out the materials list, and the materials were donated to the school.
WTA freshmen Maxim Pyshnyak and Anatoliy Suprunchuk work on the router table to match pieces of the shutters. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Two of the students who have been working on the shutter project are freshmen Maxim Pyshnyak and Anatoliy Suprunchuk, who said they have enjoyed working on the historical rebuild.
“It was fun, we learned a lot. We learned about the assembly process and the milling process,” Anatoliy said.
“Just to be a part of such a historical building is pretty interesting,” Maxim said. Asked what they thought about a one-room schoolhouse, Maxim added, “You’d get to know everybody and you’d be with them a long period of time.”
Using tables and routers this week, the students were trying to match the thickness of the original slats.
Bush said normally, students work on a series of projects from blueprints that build on sets of skills. Many of the students in the freshmen class this week were working on footstools. Bush said by the time they finish a project, they’ve mastered what they’ve done, all the way up to high advanced skills.
Instructor Wayne Bush said jobs like the shutters have to be fit in with regular projects designed to add skills. (Photo by Amy Porter)
He said half of the juniors and seniors are out on co-ops with general contractors, woodworking companies, and one in interior design. Others are working on the house on Pontoosic Street.
“We always try to do community service,” Bush said. “We’re project-based learning – to fit something in like this (the shutters) is difficult. We’re hoping the next couple of weeks we’ll be done,” he added.
The Wyben/West Farms Schoolhouse is located at 605 Montgomery Road, in the Wyben section and is one of Westfield’s hidden treasures. Built in 1861, it is the last remaining city-owned one room schoolhouse, still in its original location. It closed as a school in June 1939.
The restoration is a project of the Westfield Historical Commission, with support and funding from the Westfield Community Preservation Commission and members of the community. The goal is to create a museum that will provide a spotlight on one-room schoolhouse education to today’s elementary school students.
1914 photo of the Wyben School with the original shutters. (Photo submitted)
One member of the Restoration Project said the shutters are “a major contribution to the project. I want the Westfield Voke, the students, and their instructor to get all well deserved credit they have earned ,” he said, adding, “The shutters are reproductions of the original ones that were on the building, and without the school making them, it would have been near impossible to have exact replicas.”
The member, who did not want to give his name, also said the shutters will be painted the same color green as the remnant that was found, and they will also be functional.
The Wyben Schoolhouse project is currently seeking volunteers, information and donations to help with the restoration, especially as the City of Westfield prepares to celebrate its 350th anniversary in 2019. Anyone seeking to help is asked to contact Dick Patterson – Project Coordinator 413 568 0317 [email protected]
Donations may be made payable and mailed to Westfield Historical Commission, ATTN Kate Deviny/Wyben School, 59 Court Street, Westfield MA 01085
