Published: October 23, 2009 05:26 pm      

Former camera shop owner returns to schoolhouse

EDMOND — Bob Sanders spent a nostalgic Sunday afternoon recently as he joined family, friends and other guests to reminisce about Sanders Camera Shop, for years Edmond’s only camera store.

They came to see the 1889 Territorial Schoolhouse that at one time housed Sanders Camera Shop as well as the family and to visit with Paul Sanders who once lived in the schoolhouse.

Sanders said when he learned classes were once again being taught in the 1889 classroom, through a program offered by the Edmond Historic Preservation Trust and Edmond Public Schools, he was more than pleased.

“My mother taught second and third grades at Russsell Dougherty for almost 30 years,” Sanders said. It seemed only fitting that the first class at the newly renovated school was from his and his mother’s old school just two blocks up the street.

He said he thinks of the school as more than just his old home and the location of his father’s photography business.

“I think of it as a tribute to the educators in my family,” Sanders said. In addition to his mother, his late aunt and uncle, Murlene and Ted Anderson, also were longtime educators in Edmond.

Restored to its original beauty, the renovated school at 124 E. Second Street was built in 1889 as the first public schoolhouse in the Indian Territory. As the student population outgrew the building, it was made into a home which the Sanders family moved into. When Paul’s dad returned from World War II he started Sanders Camera Shop.

Sanders has been coming to the school to talk to the children who come to the schoolhouse for a day of learning.

“I just wanted to see what the building looks like today,” said Professor Aris Prewitt, who retired from Central State University in 1985. He said he used to walk from the university to bring his film for the elder Sanders to develop.

He also told the visitors the story of the school bell that once belonged to Dr. Roberts and was donated to the schoolhouse during the restoration process.

“We are very pleased to have Paul and his wife come to this open house,” said John Osborne, chairman of the trust, “and we plan to hold other such events at the school for people to come and talk about the history of Edmond.”

Sanders said children have lots of questions and trouble imagining what the schoolhouse looked like when his family lived there.

Sanders and his wife, Kim, sold the former Sanders Camera Shop to the Edmond Historic Preservation Trust in 2000. For the next few years trust members worked to return the building to its original likeness.

The school opened for classes in September following the April 22, 1889, Land Run, and is believed to be the first schoolhouse in Oklahoma Territory.

“Many citizens that came were pleased that the building had been saved and is now used to teach 1889 school,” said Beverly Terry with the Edmond Historic Preservation Trust.

The family wasn’t especially aware of the historic significance, Sanders said. To him it was just his home, his dad’s business and a wonderful place for a young boy to live.

“We were right on Route 66,” Sanders said. “There was no Interstate 35 in those days so all the trucks and cars traveling cross country went right in front of my house, day and night.”

Tours are conducted the first two Saturdays of every month, and school classes can be scheduled by calling the Edmond Historical Society and Museum at 341-0048.