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Churchville school open house set for Sept. 25

The doors to the Churchville Schoolhouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will be open for an afternoon of music and history from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, at 3N784 Church Road, north of Grand Avenue in Bensenville.

The Churchville Schoolhouse Fall Open House is presented by the Elmhurst Historical Museum and the Elmhurst Heritage Foundation as part of the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.

The afternoon will feature musical performances by local schoolchildren and an opportunity to tour the restored Churchville Schoolhouse, built about 1846.

Activities include Civil War-era songs and dancing by students from Conrad Fischer Elementary School at 1:30 and 2:45 p.m.; readings of letters written by the Fischer Family during the Civil War by GreenMan Theatre Troupe at 2:15 and 3:25 p.m.; tours of the recently renovated Churchville Schoolhouse and folk music by Dean Milano throughout the day.

The Churchville Cemetery Association also will be on hand to provide information about Civil War veterans buried in the cemetery next to the schoolhouse property.

Admission is free and parking is available in the church parking lots on the east side of Church Road.

The Churchville Schoolhouse is one of the oldest structures in DuPage County, as well as one of the few remaining one-room schoolhouses still standing on its original site in Illinois.

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1999, it is a well-preserved example of typical mid-1800s rural schoolhouses built by local farmers and craftsmen.

The schoolhouse sits on property that was once part of the August Fischer family farm, which was deeded to Addison Township around 1846. Children from the towns now known as Elmhurst, Bensenville and Addison attended the school until 1930.

The schoolhouse was managed by Elmhurst Unit District 205 from 1988 to 2001, and was used to teach history lessons to students.

School district officials deeded the property to Elmhurst in 2001, and an extensive renovation took place over a 10-year period with cooperation from Bensenville. The restoration project was finished in 2010 and, starting this fall, Elmhurst Historical Museum will begin hosting school groups for a living-history experience.

For details, call the Elmhurst Historical Museum at (630) 833-1457 or visit elmhursthistory.org.

Students from Conrad Fischer Elementary School in Elmhurst will perform Civil War-era songs and dances at the Churchville Schoolhouse open house Sept. 25 Courtesy of Elmhurst Historical Museum