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At the Old Schoolhouse Museum, you don’t feel lost amidst colossal hallways with minute and tedious exhibits. It’s not that kind of museum. Instead you are welcomed and invited to explore items and aspects of real Twentynine Palms history. Walking around, you’re filled with a sense of local enthusiasm and warmth. Currently the museum encompasses an ample area open to visitors: the original Schoolhouse (dating from 1927), a general display room that comes complete with four thematic exhibits, and a gift shop area. The museum presents four different eras for the region: Native Americans, Goldminers, Military, and Homesteaders.
The Old Schoolhouse Museum, which houses the Twentynine Palms Historical Society, has recently undergone some changes that establishes the museum’s dedication to moving forward in its honoring of times past. These renovations, broken into two phases, broke ground in April 2005.
Phase I, recently completed, includes a library/meeting room, office area, and artifact storage area. Phase II, still in the works, consists of an exhibit/conference hall, kitchen, new restrooms, and an outdoor patio courtyard enclosure.
The historical society hosts a popular lecture series that has outgrown its current space. Much of these new renovations cater to these events, as well as an improved means of sustaining historical artifacts.
Visitors may wander through the museum viewing historical artifacts of everyday life in the desert—things like old manicure sets, military plaques, and mining tools.
The oldest public building in the Morongo Basin area, the schoolhouse came into existence in 1927. The school began in the truest pioneering fashion. After being denied requested funds from San Bernadino County, the inhabitants of the surrounding area decided to take matters into their own hands. Working solely on the assistance and altruism of the community, the one-room schoolhouse was born, originally hosting eight students, hailing from different corners of the Morongo Basin.
As the years went by, the area’s population grew, and the need for more extensive learning facilities increased as well. Eventually the building became obsolete when larger schools were built and it stood unused for years. As the Historical Society also yearned for a larger home, the idea to restore and move the Schoolhouse to a more accessible location was discussed. In 1990, the Historical Society moved the Schoolhouse, in a huge endeavor that set the town abuzz, near the 29 Palms Inn and the Oasis of Mara. There it resides today, attracting attention and appealing to the delight of historically inclined individuals, be they residents or visitors.
Today, the latest generation of students from the area take educational field trips to this museum every year. The thought of those students standing in that same classroom and laying their hands gently over the well-worn authentic desk in that schoolhouse where those eight original students sat back in the 1920s gives me goosebumps. That connection between past and present needs to be preserved, and with the Old Schoolhouse Museum, the Twentynine Palms Historical Society enables the history of this area to become a tangible experience in a personal sense. -
By Lindsay Lancaster
December 2006/January 2007