Suffolk seeks to restore Elwood School

When the Elwood School opened in 1915, with an elaborate dedication ceremony complete with piano and violin music, a local newspaper declared the structure "a source of local pride."

The two-story building still stands on Cuba Hill Road -- but it's now vacant, gutted and home to animals that have burrowed their way in.

Suffolk County, which has deemed the building a historic structure, hopes that will change, and is seeking local nonprofits that can help raise the money to restore the building.

On a recent afternoon, Richard Martin, director of historic services with the Suffolk County Parks Department, surveyed the empty building, along with two employees who have been researching the building's history in order to place it on the state register of historic places.

"Our problem now is keeping the animals out and keeping the building tight," Martin said as he stepped past the carcasses of sparrows and baby raccoons that littered the floor.

The county purchased the building in 1986 from the Elwood school district, which had been using the space for its administration offices. It has been vacant since 2003, when the Art League of Long Island -- which had been renting the space -- moved to Dix Hills. The historic schoolhouse is one of only two the county owns -- the other is a mid-19th-century building in Farmingville.

The decades haven't been kind to the Elwood schoolhouse. The original tin ceilings are marred by the drop ceiling Martin said the school district had installed years ago. The lath shows through where the original plaster had been damaged from later paneling, and the roof has holes in it, most likely caused by birds or other animals.

But the foundation and structure are still solid, and the schoolhouse is light-filled and airy from the rows of large, original windows that line the walls. When the building was used as a school, the first floor was divided into two large classrooms -- one for the younger children, and the other for children up through the eighth grade.

While many call it the "Little Red Schoolhouse," the schoolhouse is actually not so little, although it did spend a few decades being red.

"Little Red Schoolhouse got attached to it in the '50s when the community built larger schools, and that became little to them," Martin said. "It's actually quite a large schoolhouse for its era."

Martin said this summer the county is hiring a crew to clean out the debris inside.

But the building will likely remain as it is, he said, unless community groups come forward to partner with them to restore it, which Martin said would take at least $500,000, but likely much more. Martin said the partnering groups could set up shop inside the building, while also allowing for a community space there.

Martin credited Commack resident Albert Wesnofske with pressing the county to take steps to repair the building.

Wesnofske, 87, has been waging a one-man battle to save the Elwood School, which he attended from 1931 to 1935.

"I'm very interested in restoring the building," said Wesnofske, who also installed his own flagpole and American flag on the front lawn of the schoolhouse. "But with the economy today, is it going to happen? I don't believe it."