Community school house celebrates 100th birthday

EAST COUNTY — After 30 years of caring for a school building constructed in 1914, Becky Ayech still finds joy in rearranging desks and other keepsakes.

Ayech, the president of the Miakka Community Club, has been fascinated with the Old Miakka Schoolhouse since she moved to “Old Miakka,” or East Sarasota, in the mid-’80s, she says.

“Look at this place,” Ayech says, while sitting at a creaky wooden desk inside of the schoolhouse. “This building is amazing.”

Although the building has received new paint, two roof replacements, a sidewalk, a wheelchair ramp and other renovations over the years, for Ayech, the school represents a rural community that withstood a century of development in an area that didn’t want to be changed.

September marks the 100-year anniversary of the Old Miakka Schoolhouse — the only one-room schoolhouse still standing in Sarasota County.

Built in a month, the schoolhouse housed classes for 30 years before it closed in 1944. Ayech guesses the need for the school ceased due to the construction of other nearby schools.

The school featured multiple rows of desks. Each row served a different grade level, Ayech says.

Ayech has become an expert on the facility after interviews she conducted with former students over the last few years.

Callie Ballard and her sister, Hazel, attended Old Miakka Schoolhouse in the ’30s. The school housed shoeless students who couldn’t afford the proper footwear or clothing.

The women remember their instructor, Jasper Crowley, and the large rings he tapped against the chalkboard to get his students’ attention.

The chalkboard — an original piece of the school still intact — still wears smudges of white chalk at the front of the classroom.

“Hazel, well she’s 86 years old now, but she remembered so much right away when she walked in here,” Ayech says, smiling. “She sat right down and said, ‘This was where I sat; this was my place.’”

In conjunction with the school’s anniversary, the schoolhouse will host the community club’s annual fundraiser to continue restoring the building — the Fall Hootenanny. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 5, the property surrounding the facility, located at 15800 Wilson Road, Sarasota, will feature musical entertainment, barbecue food, games, a silent auction and other attractions for attendees.

The event is free, but donations are appreciated, Ayech says. Money raised will go directly to the upkeep of the property and the schoolhouse.

“This event is the club’s only baby,” Ayech says. “This is our only fundraiser; it’s how we keep this school going. The community club has taken care of this building for more than 68 years. We don’t want (the school) changed, just like our town. We want to keep it just the way it is, but in good shape.”

If you go
Fall Hootenanny
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 5
Where: Old Miakka Schoolhouse, 15800 Wilson Road, Sarasota (Old Miakka)
Cost: Free
Parking: Free parking at the school
Info: The event will feature live music, a barbecue, a Civil War re-enactment, silent auction, Dakin Dairy Farm’s cow train and other games and booths for children and adults. Call 322-2164.

Fun Fact
Members of the “Old Miakka” community spell the town’s name with an “i” rather than a “y.” Becky Ayech, president of the Miakka Community Club, said the town’s “y” spelling resulted from a man who mailed in a request for Miakka to be put on the federal map for the local post office and had poor handwriting. The post office worker mistakenly spelled Miakka as Myakka.

Timeline
Oct. 7, 1913 — Miakka asks for a $2,500 bond to construct a school.

Aug. 20, 1914 — Contractor J.E. Rogers is hired to build the school.

Sept. 10, 1914 — Construction finishes on the school.

Sept. 24, 1914 — Professor Lee Hall and the first class of students attend the school.

1937 — A concrete sidewalk and outhouses are constructed.

1944 — Old Miakka Schoolhouse closes.

July 3, 1986 — The school is officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Oct. 26, 1948 — The Miakka Community Club purchases the school and property for $50.

2014 — Sarasota County funds renovations to the schoolhouse. The Community Club oversees the installation of ceiling fans, new paint, new concrete steps and other improvements.

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].