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Fundraiser Planned for Liberty School

Friends of the Gray Campbell Farmstead
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An event next week will generate funds for the preservation of part of the Springfield area’s past.  KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more.

The Step Back in Time Vintage Fashion Show will raise money to continue work on Liberty School, which was moved from near Fellows Lake to the Gray-Campbell Farmstead at Nathanael Greene-Close Memorial Park.  The one room school is the newest addition to the park’s Gray-Campbell Farmstead.  Norma Tolbert is chair of the Saving Liberty Project.

"We're giving new life to the school.  It was built back in the late 1800's out north of Springfield and consolidated in 1951 into the Fair Grove School District," she said.

Tolbert is pleased to see the school being preserved.  She and her parents attended school there, and an aunt taught at Liberty.

The Friends of the Gray-Campbell Farmstead had been raising money for years to move the building.  Now, the Saving Liberty School Project needs to raise money to restore the inside.

"The actual floor needs to be refinished.  We have part of the old floor.  We need to match the old and the new.  The walls--we have some of that done, but we need to finish up to the chair rail.  We need items for the inside.  We have collected probably 12 to 15 school desks, but we still have a pot belly stove we need to put in there," she said.

A grand opening for Liberty School is scheduled for September 20 and 21 during the Farmstead’s Lifestyle Exposition.

The Fashion Show next week will show styles from the early 1800s to the 1920s.  It will be held Thursday night (7/24) from 6 to 8 at Ms. Gilmore’s Carriage House at the Humbolt Mansion, 847 S. Scenic.

Tickets are $35 and include a meal and a chance to win a vintage-inspired door prize.  They need to be purchased by tomorrow (7/19) and are available at the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center, Vintage Suitcase and Tea Room, 724 S. Scenic and Michelle’s Place, 101 E. Donna in Nixa.

Michele Skalicky has worked at KSMU since the station occupied the old white house at National and Grand. She enjoys working on both the announcing side and in news and has been the recipient of statewide and national awards for news reporting. She likes to tell stories that make a difference. Michele enjoys outdoor activities, including hiking, camping and leisurely kayaking.