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Nine Decades of History

Homestead Community and Event Center a hub of activity

DAILEY - The Homestead Community and Event Center has a rich history of being a place that provides hope for the community, and still upholds this responsibility as an active hub for the public today.

The community center evolved from being an elementary school, and the building now plays host to a wide variety of events, ranging from youth sport practices and games, to parties, such as baby showers and birthdays, and community events like pancake breakfasts.

The center is a versatile space, sitting on 17 acres, and includes classrooms transformed into party spaces, a gymnasium, an industrial kitchen and dining hall, two playgrounds, a walking trail and a football field.

Tygart Valley Homestead Association Board member Chelley Depp explained that "we have opportunities for any kind of event you want to have," and that center officials are open to ideas for future events such as hosting classes or clubs. Previously, there have been craft shows, cooking events, community meetings and more, in addition to the frequent youth sport activities and parties.

"Most nights of the week there are people here on this field, either walking, riding bikes, pushing babies in carriages, walking dogs, kids playing on the playground, the football team here, the soccer team here - it's very busy of an evening," Depp said.

Formerly the Homestead School, the community center building was constructed in 1939 as part of the New Deal-era Tygart Valley Homestead. The school was considered state of the art at the time and combined the students from nine one-room schoolhouses together into a facility with electricity and resources that many children did not have access to. The Homestead School provided these families with hope of accessing a better life and a chance to start over from the Great Depression.

Through the Tygart Valley Homestead, which included 198 homes, families purchased a house with a small plot of land for farming, in hopes of becoming self-sufficient. Residents were given jobs in the agriculture, textile and woodworking industries to help pay off their debts. Children of these families were placed into school to receive an education and to help the future generations rebuild from the losses of the past.

The Tygart Valley Association was disbanded in 1944, and was the only project in the nation to repay all its financial obligations and receive additional profits for the sale of properties held by the association. The school remained in use, as well as the trade center, lumber mill and the homes themselves.

In 2016, the school was in danger of being closed due to a lack of funding to maintain the property, declines in student enrollment and maintenance issues ,but it was unanimously voted to remain open. In March 2017, however, a storm blew the gymnasium roof off the building and the school was permanently closed.

Since the building was no longer a school, the Department of Education (DOE) lost ownership, returning the title to the Department of Agriculture, which then decided to end its association with the property. The Department of Agriculture supported the idea of historic preservation and required that the building must go to a non-profit organization.

The Tygart Valley Homestead Association (TVHA) is a non-profit that originated around 2001 with a goal of preserving the history of the homestead and the Tygart Valley New Deal community.

The TVHA had a pre-existing relationship with the school before the storm, working with the parent teacher association (PTA) to find ways of preserving the Homestead School's history in the present-day space. When the school faced closing due to financial issues in 2016, the TVHA fought to keep its doors open. The association expressed interest in the building after the storm shut down the school, then officially took ownership and turned it into a community center in 2018.

The TVHA made a commitment to preserving the nearly 90 years of history that this property shares. The old kindergarten classroom was dedicated into a history "museum" room, filled with pictures from when the school began, all the way to when it closed. Much of the equipment was left after the school shut down, such as old projectors, typewriters and classroom decorations like bookshelf ends.

In addition to what was left behind, the association also takes community donations of items from the homestead era to honor the area’s history. These "museum" rooms are kept open during events for visitors to learn and see how the building has changed over time, in addition to showcasing the history of the Tygart Valley Homestead.

Depp said there is a rich connection that the homesteaders have with the history of Tygart Valley, as some have lived in the area their entire lives. Depp also mentioned that a few of the original "homestead kids" now serve on the association's board. She explained that seeing the school they attended still in use matters.

"It's important to preserve this history and to preserve this place for the community," she said, noting how this school was the homestead kids’ world. "The pieces of history are slowly starting to fade away and we can continue to hold onto this and make it valuable, thriving, and, most importantly, sustainable."

The Homestead Center is run completely by volunteers and fully funded on donations. When the school was closed, the DOE left almost all the equipment, including the recently refurnished industrial kitchen.

The TVHA utilizes the space to work alongside local partners like the Home of the Soul Church to provide the community with pancake breakfasts once a month. The breakfasts are one of the biggest and most consistent events at the center, Depp said, adding, "the event in itself has become a community meeting ground."

The center's kitchen is also rented out to small businesses and pop up kitchens, offering a local place to work larger than a residence.

Along with the kitchen, the Jim Wallace Dining Hall is frequently utilized for gatherings. The hall is dedicated to the memory of prominent businessman and former Mountain Valley Bank President Jim Wallace. The funds to renovate the space back into operative status were donated by a friend of Wallace’s, Don Judy, aimed at creating a place for the community to come and sit together.

Looking into the future, Depp shared her aspirations, on behalf of TVHA, for the center, including getting the final roof replaced, expanding the playground, turning one of the parks into a dog park, hiring an employee to facilitate events, redoing the gym floor and adding bleachers and building signs with historical information around the walking path. She said that, long-term, "I want the building to be fully functional, 100% of the time."

To keep the Homestead Community and Event center running and achieve these goals, the TVHA is looking for volunteers, funding and additional support from the community.

"We need an infusion of energy and funding to keep this going for another 10-20 years," Depp shared. She also explained that the costs of building maintenance are rising and there are not enough funds to keep the building going, let alone continue to move forward with expanding the opportunities for the center,

"If we lose this facility and don't have the funding to keep operating, these kids have nowhere to go and we lose the ability to have a meeting place and this center in the community." The center has been in the community for nearly 90 years and Depp explained on behalf of the TVHA that "we want the community to say this place matters; we need people and we want people to be involved," and that the association needs community support in every way.

Information about volunteering and donating can be found on the Homestead Community Center's social media page, and those interested can message through the page or call Depp or Tina Hinzman directly.

"I've got projects for everybody, every age and every ability," Depp said, "from cleaning, painting and landscaping to grant writing, archive organization, fundraising events and board positions. We need 'all hands on deck,' so to speak."

"We're very proud of the homesteads and the community that we have, we just need them to swing back around and help support the community center," Depp said, noting, "People should get involved however they can," to keep the center open and provide hope for the future.