Politics & Government
Historic Chatham Schoolhouse Awarded $266K For Preservation Work
Mount Vernon School was built around 1860 as a one-room schoolhouse and served as one of four township schools until 1928.
CHATHAM, NJ — The township’s historic Red Brick Schoolhouse, also known as the Mount Vernon School, is among projects throughout the state expected to share $15.8 million in grants from the Preserve New Jersey Historic Preservation Fund.
The historic school, which is located at 24 Southern Blvd, in Chatham Township, is in line to receive $266,050 from the New Jersey Historic Trust.
The structure is one of ten historic sites in Morris County that applied for the grants, and the funds will be distributed to the Garden State Preservation Trust once they are presented to the Garden State Preservation Trust.
Find out what's happening in Chathamfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
According to a statement issued this week by the Morris County Board of Commissioners, the money requires legislative appropriation and approval by Gov. Phil Murphy.
“This is an important first step in the process, as well as an enormous boost to our own efforts to preserve, protect and restore historic sites throughout Morris County. These state dollars will supplement grants we already approved from our Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund to protect these same sites,” said Morris County Commissioner Stephen Shaw, the board’s liaison to the Office of Planning & Preservation.
Find out what's happening in Chathamfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Red Brick Schoolhouse grant is a "Level 2" grant that falls under the Capital Preservation Grants category. The category is one of four grant categories and funds capital projects with requests ranging from $150,001 to $750,000, with the New Jersey Historic Trust contributing 50 percent of the project cost and the nonprofit or government agency contributing 50 percent.
Grants for Historic Site Management include funding for preservation plans, historic structure reports, condition assessments, design documents and the creation or revision of a local historic preservation ordinance.
The Red Brick Schoolhouse was built in 1860 and served until 1928 when the Southern Boulevard School replaced the town's five rural schools.
The schoolhouse was deeded to the town and served as the Town Hall for many years. When the town offices moved in 1988, the building was turned over to the Historical Society for use as a museum.
The museum is from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
