The Northern Virginia Daily ran an article on November 20, 2023 talking about the plans to bring the historic Triplett Schoolhouse back to life. You can read the article on their website. We will also repost it below.
The old Triplett School building in Mount Jackson has a history going back nearly a century, from its opening in 1925 as the community’s high school to its two decades as a firehouse from 1994 to 2016.
One local nonprofit wants to bring new life to the facility as a community center and performing arts venue.
Community Resources for Education and Wellness, or CREW, was established earlier this year as a 501©(3) charity by David Ferguson and Randy Doyle with the goal of “partner[ing] with public and private organizations to advance education and wellness in Shenandoah County.”
Ferguson, a retired Shentel vice president and recently elected to the Shenandoah County Board Supervisors, said Doyle, a consultant for Holtzman Oil and recent arrival to the Valley, initially approached him with the idea of establishing a YMCA in the area. When the YMCA turned them down, the pair decided to seek sponsors within the community.
“We looked at this facility because we wanted to be in a building, to offer things,” Ferguson recalled. “This was really the only building that wasn’t in use that had a gym, a stage, had a kitchen, had a social hall… It was the only one.”
W. Todd Holtzman, who purchased the 6044 Main St. property from the town after the fire department relocated, agreed to lease the facility to CREW for 10 years at a cost of $1 per year, with the option to buy at any time for a low fixed price.
The group has already secured contributions from local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2447 and local Rotary clubs, both of which will have dedicated classroom space for veterans programs and a Rotary Learning Center.
Holtzman, who also sits on the Mount Jackson Town Council, pitched the idea of a partnership between CREW and the town at a committee meeting last month, requesting $50,000 per year to pay the building’s utility bills. Ferguson followed up with a full presentation to the council last Tuesday, but the request is still awaiting action.
Along with upgrades to the classrooms, planned renovations to the facility include accessibility upgrades, a new heating and cooling system and a conversion of the cafeteria’s current commercial kitchen to a more conventional kitchen space the public can safely use.
The big-ticket item, however, is the large gymnasium and stage in the building. Ferguson envisions a dual use for the room, both as a space for Parks and Recreation-led programming and as a public performing arts facility for anyone who needs it.
“If I said, ‘Where can I go to put a performance on in a state-of-the-art facility that the public can use?’ There is none,” Ferguson said. “We’re talking about somebody’s ballerina class, we’re talking about one of the many bands that are in Shenandoah County that want to put a performance on.”
Such an overhaul would include sound-dampening infrastructure to quiet the gym’s echoes, audio/video electronics, removable theater seating and mats to cover the wooden basketball court surface.
The ambitious plan also comes with an equally ambitious price tag: the organization has budgeted $350,000 for the performing arts center, and is looking for a single donor to get their name on the facility.
“We’re looking for someone to put their name up there,” Ferguson said, pointing to the stage, “and fund the $350,000.”
With the recent hiring of a director to work full-time on the project, CREW expects the remodel of the schoolhouse to be completed by June of next year.
