- April 22, 2024
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Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn welcomes the crowd at the dedication of the 1887 Windermere Schoolhouse on Friday, Dec. 11.
The Windermere Elementary School Chorus performed patriotic songs at the dedication.
OCPS Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins was among the guest speakers at the schoolhouse ceremony.
Theresa Schretzmann-Myers identifies some of the teachers and students from a 1990 portrait taken outside the historic schoolhouse.
The historic marker is revealed.
Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn rang the outdoor bell and announced that school is in session.
The interior of the 1887 Windermere Schoolhouse was set up just as it would have appeared more than a century ago.
The schoolhouse was officially opened to the public after the dedication ceremony.
Windermere Elementary students check out what is placed on the teacher’s desk.
A bookshelf made to look like old orange crates holds turn-of-the-century lesson books.
Citrus crates were constructed to resemble the seating for students in 1887.
Once the center of social activity in Windermere, the 128-year-old building was a popular place once again Friday, Dec. 11, when the town held a special ceremony to dedicate the historic site and to honor the lives of the people who first studied there.
Among the guests were Town Council Member John Armstrong, whose father was born there after Lloyd and Minnie Belle Armstrong added onto it and made it the family home; and the Rev. Roger Seidner, whose father attended the school and later served as a town council member.
Speakers were Mayor Gary Bruhn; several Orange County Public Schools representatives, Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins, School Board Chairman Bill Sublette and School Board Member Pam Gould; and Hannah Ammar and Theresa Schretzmann-Myers of the Windermere Historical Preservation Board.
“This place matters,” Jenkins said. “It mattered in 1887, and it matters today.”
The Windermere Elementary School Chorus performed several patriotic songs before the Florida Heritage Site historic marker was unveiled. The sign was sponsored by the Windermere Historical Preservation Board, Windermere Garden, Club, Windermere Parks and Recreation, Mary Frances Fischer-Howard and family, John and Deanna Armstrong, Gary and Kay Bruhn and the Florida Department of State.
The doors to the schoolhouse were opened, and guests could see what the interior would have looked like in 1887. Orange crates with copies of local citrus labels were set up as seating, a free-standing chalkboard introduced the original instructors, and a bookcase held original primers.
The schoolhouse and property were donated to the town by Eunice and Manuel “Perry” Parramore in 1995, and in 2003 the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
While much restoration has taken place, funds are still being solicited to repair the woodpecker holes in the gable boards and to replace siding on the east and west ends.
