TREGO COUNTY — Each year the Kansas Preservation Alliance Inc. recognizes exemplary efforts in historic preservation across the state of Kansas. The 2019 Awards for Excellence were presented May 17 at the Historic Fire Station No.2 in Topeka.

The Wilcox School in rural Trego County received a Merit Award for Excellence with Distinction: Preservation. Cathy Albert and Jody Zeman, representing the Wilcox School, and Len Schamber, representing Schamber Historic Preservation, LLC, were present to receive the award. Sixteen projects across Kansas received Awards for Excellence and only two projects received Awards with Distinction, including the Wilcox School.

Built in 1886, Wilcox School District 29 is significant as one of only a few remaining rural school houses in Trego County and one of a few remaining native limestone one-room schools left in the United States. The school served Wilcox Township for sixty years. District 29 was eventually consolidated with other rural districts and the Wilcox School closed in 1947. The school continued to be used by consolidated districts for several more years. Later. the building was purchased by the Hi-Plains Gravel Grinders Motorcycle Club and used as their clubhouse.

Restoration began in 2012, and today the school is a monument to the demanding manual labor and ingenuity of the early settlers of Wilcox Township who dreamed of making a better life for their families and neighbors.