County Grant to Help Preserve Former Schoolhouse in Roxbury

ROXBURY, NJ – Morris County is donating almost a quarter-million dollars to help Roxbury preserve the historic Lafayette School.

The $241,608 grant, from the county Historic Preservation Trust Fund, will be used for exterior work on the 103-year-old structure. The township agreed to chip in about $60,000 for the work from its Open Space Trust Fund.

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Roxbury Township Manager John Shepherd said the first goal is to renovate the exterior, properly sealing the former 2-room schoolhouse from the elements. An interior restoration might come next.

“The grant will assist with exterior restoration including replacement of aluminum cornice with new wood fascia and cornice, and structural repairs,” according to the county. The exterior work is expected to be completed in two years.

It’s been about six decades since the building, situated on Mill Road in Lower Berkshire Valley, was used as a school. The structure has been unoccupied for about 13 years and township officials have yet to figure out how it will be used in the future.

Roxbury officials are not necessarily interested in using the Lafayette School for municipal purposes. In fact, they were excited about a plan wherein The Canal Society of New Jersey was going to use it as its headquarters, an idea unexpectedly scuttled by the non-profit group in March 2021.

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“The 1921 Lafayette School is one of a few surviving examples of a two-room schoolhouse type,” says Morris County Historic Preservation on its website. “It is the only known schoolhouse of its type, cast-in-place concrete structure (10-12") with a rubble stone veneer (+8"), in New Jersey. The building has a Certificate of Eligibility for listing on the Historic Registers.”

A 2019 grant of $51,260 from the county helped pay for construction documents related to both the interior and exterior restoration and rehabilitation.

The grant to Roxbury was one of 21 approved this year by the Morris County Historical Preservation Trust Fund Review Board. About $3.6 million will be spent through the trust fund on historic preservation projects throughout the county.

Related TAPinto Roxbury stories:

Roxbury Looks to County for Help Saving Old Schoolhouse

Former Roxbury School Still Needs a Purpose

Help On The Way for Historic Former Roxbury School

Roxbury Mulls Future of "Sweet, Little" Old Lafayette Schoolhouse

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