Historic Crouch School Moves Today

The one-room historic Crouch School will move today to a new home at Liberty Middle School, where it will become a lesson for students in living history.

“What is really happening is that we in effect are passing on to the next generation our culture and heritage,” said Pat Layden, a historic preservationist and member of the Save Crouch School Committee.

The schoolhouse at the corner of Union Mill and Compton Road in Clifton will be set at its new place on the Liberty School grounds starting at 7 a.m. until noon.

A crane will pick up the structure and place it on a trailer. The trailer will take a 15-minute ride to the new location, Layden said.

The Crouch family donated the land to the state in 1874 and it was used as a school until the 1920s. When individual counties began to oversee schooling, the Crouch family bought back the building from the county for $125, Layden said. Since then, the property has largely been unused.

The committee’s efforts to restore the schoolhouse began in 2006. About $100,000 later, the group has raised enough funds to move the schoolhouse to its new location in the first phase of the project.

For more information about the school, view our previous coverage.