Bell At Famous Red Shell Schoolhouse Rings Again After Decades Of Silence

The bell at the Red Shell School are ringing again after a decades-long effort to save this iconic one-room Wyoming schoolhouse. 

The little red building was once so photogenic it graced the cover of not just one but two textbooks distributed across the nation.

The long-shut school is being restored by a community of volunteers, determined to preserve both the structure and the history of a place that shaped generations in the 17-mile-long Shell Valley, home to the tiny historic village of Shell, population 80.

Shell is best known these days for its world-class paleontology and trout fishing, as well as scenic drives through Shell Canyon into the mountains.

But its school was once textbook-famous. 

“At some point, in the early ’80s or late ’70s, a photographer was sent to the school to take a picture on behalf of a national textbook publisher,” Carla Mowell told Cowboy State Daily. “We’re not sure how that came about, but that image was on textbooks across the nation, and (the school) even kind of crept into the books, too.”

One book was for spelling and the other for handwriting. 

“There are two kids on horseback, and some sheep wandering magically around,” Mowell said with a chuckle. “And Mrs. Patterson is holding hands with a few of the kids, who are frolicking in the yard.”

A grand total of seven children are in the photo that was used for the spelling textbook. 

In the other photo for the handwriting textbook, four children are scattered on the school steps, while Mrs. Patterson stands at the entrance, looking down at the two nearest, who are boys. An American flag and a Wyoming flag are being raised by two other students, both girls. 

In each photo, the centerpiece is the red schoolhouse that looks like it could’ve modeled for Norman Rockwell.

“Not every school gets to be highlighted like that,” Mowell said. “We’re just so grateful that we have that because, unlike today where we’re all wandering around with these great cameras in our pockets, there really weren’t a lot of photographs of the school kids of everyday life.”

The school has copies of the textbooks, which it plans to display in an exhibit being prepared for the building's entryway.

Decades Of Complications

The Red Shell School was built sometime around 1915 and closed its doors behind its last student, Dale Haley, in 1991.

For a time, Greybull School District planned to move the building to Greybull, where it was to serve as storage space. 

But there's too much history in this little one-room schoolhouse for that. Shell residents formed a committee that fought to keep the school, which had shaped so many generations of lives in the Shell Valley.

The group bought the schoolhouse for just $1, but things became complicated after that. 

“The building was actually sitting across a property line, presumably because of errors or old surveys,” Shell resident Denise O’Neal told Cowboy State Daily. “The front of the building was on what’s considered the public town property of Shell.”

The back of the building was on private property, though, and belonged to an owner who was not willing to relinquish it. 

When the property was sold, the deed included a clause that said if the building did not become either a museum or a school within 10 years, the back of the building would revert to its private owners. 

That clause proved to be a poison pill.

“Without a clear title, you really weren’t going to be able to spend a lot of money renovating a building that you weren’t sure you could actually own,” O’Neal said. 

Fortunately, the property’s new owners proved more willing to relinquish the title to the school so that work to restore it could move forward.

Putting The Back Into Back-Breaking Work

The challenges weren’t over then. They were just beginning.

They needed thousands of dollars to replace the old, leaking windows and fix the roof, ensuring the building wouldn’t rot away. After that, there were hours and hours of dusty, backbreaking work ahead for volunteers.

Dingy old linoleum covered the original tongue-and-groove fir floor at the Red Shell School, which had been glued down using black tar by someone.

Four volunteers and 40-plus scraping hours later, the linoleum and tar were finally all gone. Every last speck. 

After that, it was up to Gary Knutson to earn his nickname, Handyman of the Bighorns.

Knutson re-sanded the floor, repaired all the tack holes, and put a new, glossy coat of varnish on a beautifully restored floor. 

“It’s very light,” O’Neal said. “And it’s wonderfully creaky sounding when you walk on it.”

Six trailer-loads of debris were removed from the building, and the sadly sagging stairs that led to the school’s entryway were replaced with a wooden, handicapped-accessible ramp. 

New historic doors were sourced from a nearby ranch and a new ceiling was installed, along with a fresh coat of paint for all the walls.

The facility is almost ready for what will be a “Shellebration” on June 27.

Assuring The Next 100 Years

Two agreements have been signed that will help assure the next century for this one-room school in the Bighorns. 

One is a lease with the Shell Campground, which is going to offer a vacation rental in the building's back room.

The other is with Wild West Dino Den Group, a local nonprofit gathering casts of dinosaurs that have been shipped all over the world from Big Horn County. 

That group is creating a museum in Greybull, but in the meantime, some of these dinosaurs will be displayed at the Shell School.

“Big Horn County and Shell, in particular, is the home of these dinosaurs,” O’Neal said. “But it doesn’t have a single complete dinosaur to show for it.” 

The entryway to the school will become a miniature museum, highlighting the history of education throughout the valley, including all 11 of its one-room schools, many of which have completely disappeared.

The school’s teacher, Lorna Patterson, will also be featured in the exhibit as someone who was integral to Shell history.

“She owned and ran the Shell store for many, many years,” O’Neal said. “And she was also a superintendent of schools here and a trustee with the University of Wyoming.”

Many of the stories involving Patterson tell how she would “hound” people to pursue better futures for themselves. 

“That has affected me and my family in particular,” O’Neal said. “She would identify people, and you could say encouraged them, or hounded them, into pursuing what potential she must have seen in them.”

Patterson is the reason O’Neal’s father decided, despite lacking a high school education, to attend the University of Wyoming. 

“She has always been someone important in my life because of how important she was to him,” O’Neal said. “And I guess that’s probably what I would say interested me in (saving Red Shell School).”

Patterson was not just important locally though, Mowell added.

“She made a difference in a lot of folks’ lives,” she said. “But she was also statewide. She was on the board of trustees of UW for several terms and … she was superintendent of instruction.”

Where Children And Dreams Gather

Red Shell School, like most one-room schoolhouses, was not built to be grand. It had an old brick chimney and a practical pot-belly stove to help keep the children and their teacher warm.

But the school now has a grand future, with a tenant providing long-term income for the school’s upkeep, and a commemorative brick walkway taking shape that captures lots of historical tidbits about the school and the teacher who shaped so many lives in this corner of Wyoming.

One day, O’Neal and Mowell envision a park with huge boulders, walking paths, sitting areas and a tree swing. 

It will be a place that once again gathers children and dreams, mixing them all together for a better future in the Bighorns of Wyoming — just as Lorna Patterson once imagined.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.