A Historic Move
History: Carus Schoolhouse
By Tyler Francke, Contributing Writer
![A vintage photo of students in front of the Carus Schoolhouse](https://i0.wp.com/cityhandshake.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/White_Buildin1.jpg?resize=667%2C255&ssl=1)
It’s official: The Canby School District has sold the old Carus Schoolhouse, also known as the White Building, to a local nonprofit, with crews on site this summer to begin the arduous process of removing the historic structure intact and relocating it up the road to its new permanent location.
Dubbed the Friends of the Carus Historic Schoolhouse, the new group is devoted to preserving and restoring the beloved schoolhouse and is working with Wolfe House & Building Movers to relocate it to nearby Evans Farms in order to save it from demolition.
![](https://i0.wp.com/cityhandshake.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Students_witho.jpg?resize=353%2C228&ssl=1)
The current Carus School building has been in need of an improved parking area for years, and with the passage of the Canby school bond in May 2020, the district was granted the funds needed to make those improvements. As a result, the Canby School District made the decision to either sell the White Building to someone who could move it, or demolish it.
The district had previously announced it was working with a “serious buyer” last fall, who hoped to acquire and relocate the two-story, 4,720-square-foot schoolhouse. But those plans fell through in late March, according to Chris Ritter, a retired longtime teacher at Carus and president of the new nonprofit, who was already hard at work on a Plan B.
![](https://i0.wp.com/cityhandshake.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/White_Building-1.jpg?resize=126%2C168&ssl=1)
That same month, the Canby School District notified Chris that her plan B was now plan A, and she sprang into action.
Chris, who had by then been joined by several other community members, has been working every single day to ensure the building’s safe relocation to Evans Farms, a family-owned-and- operated nursery since 1857.
It’s a fitting home for the 1926 Craftsman-style building; not only have seven generations of the Evans family attended Carus School, but the family lineage includes Clarence Evans, one of the original builders of the schoolhouse — who milled timber from the farm to construct the building.
“It makes my heart happy to know this schoolhouse, a place of great historical, architectural, and community significance, is one step closer to being saved,” Chris says. “However, there’s still a lot of work to be done — and a lot of funds that need to be raised — in a very short amount of time.”
Wolfe House & Building Movers began work on the historic schoolhouse Friday, June 23, in order to move the building in time for the new parking lot work to also be completed during summer break.
But the Friends group says saving the two-room schoolhouse is just the beginning. According to their website, the group hopes to not only save the building from demolition, but repurpose it as a gathering space for the Beavercreek community.