ADAMS TWP — Area residents wondering what to do with that old school desk in the basement can help the Mars History and Landmark Society outfit the one-room schoolhouse being moved to the community park.

John Watson, president of the society, said the building will be outfitted with a decor and furnishings that are as close to its original educational grandeur as possible.

He said the historical society is seeking desks, a blackboard, a potbelly coal stove, a teacher’s desk and any other schoolhouse-related historical items they could use in the school.

According to the Mars School District’s website, the school on Forsythe Road was one of eight one-room schoolhouses built in the township sometime after 1836.

Watson said it is one of only two remaining. The other is now a brick residence on the Mars-Evans City Road.

The foundation that will become a basement under the school is almost complete at Adams Township Community Park on Valencia Road. The school will be situated near the park’s war memorial.

The township supervisors voted 4-1 in July to pay for the excavation and foundation for the one-room schoolhouse. Supervisors Chairman Donald Aiken said the work is estimated to cost about $13,000. A date for the move is still to be determined.

Watson said the society is hoping to solve what he calls “the mystery of the missing bell.”

He said while the school bell tower remains, the large bell that teachers rang to alert students it was time for class has vanished.

The society hopes to find the bell and restore it to its original home.

The donor of the schoolhouse, Mary Ann Barkus, may know the location of the missing bell.

She said she and her late husband, Robert, bought their property, which stretches from Forsythe Road to the Indian Meadows housing plan, in 1965 from the Austin family which still owns and operates the James Austin Company in Mars.

She said the property where she still lives was owned by the Davidson family. She said one of the Davidsons donated the property for the school, but she was not sure when.

Barkus said in the 1960s, an Austin family member bought the few acres the schoolhouse sits on from the Davidsons for a singular reason.

“He bought the acreage just to get the bell,” Barkus said. “That’s the only reason he bought the schoolhouse.”

He then asked the Barkuses if they wanted to buy the schoolhouse property.

“We said yes, because it adjoined our property,” she said.

Barkus said the schoolhouse sat unused during the decades she and her family lived on their property.

“We never used it,” she said. “It just sat there.”

She recalled looking inside the schoolhouse when her family acquired it and seeing the blackboard, coat hangers on a rod near the school’s back entrance, and a small foot-high platform at the front of the room.

“That’s where the teacher would stand so she would be higher than the class,” said Barkus, who did not attend the school.

Barkus was thrilled to donate the schoolhouse to the township, where it will symbolize a simpler time in the community.

“I was happy to do it,” she said. “It’s part of history.”

Watson said one hurdle encountered in preparing the school for moving created a buzz among historical society members and neighbors.

A huge bee hive, dripping with honey, was found inside one of the walls.

“It was at least the size of a full-grown human,” Watson said. “It was a very active hive.”

A team of professionals in protective gear were called in, and the bees were carefully collected and relocated. Watson said the hive was not destroyed because honey bees, a prime pollinator, are experiencing a population decline.

Watson said some shelves have been removed from the school, and an Amish crew should be showing up soon to dismantle the building. The pieces will be moved to the park, and the crew will reassemble it.

Watson said the building will be refurbished inside and out before being decorated and furnished under the leadership of township supervisor Ed Vogel, who attended first through sixth grades at the school in the 1940s and ’50s.

He said the building will require complete replacement of the windows and floors, among other upgrades. He said it will take a maximum of two years to open the school for public view.

He hopes to put together a list of teachers who served at the school.

“The big thing is to honor the teachers who have educated us over the years and helped make the country great,” Watson said.

Those who have historical items to donate for the school should call Watson at 724-272-9588.