The first schoolhouse in the area to be built under the 1871 Public Schools Act.

When the Town of Essex declared an intent to sell the property to a developer in 2020, a small band of citizens came together and created Heritage Colchester with the goal of saving the building and turning it into a community hall and event space. When the developer pulled out due to the delay caused by the group, the Town agreed to lease the property to them, if they could come up with a realistic plan to save it. The group was on a time crunch and reached out to ACO Windsor-Essex for advice. The Branch connected the group with Preservation Works volunteer John Rutledge who assessed what the group would need to do to make the property a community centre and helped with an overview of the plan requested by the Town of Essex. The group received approval for their lease late in 2021.

2025 Update: Jason Mayti, Councillor for the Town of Essex, expressed his gratitude to Architectural Conservancy Ontario for its PreservationWorks! assessment, which the group used to convince the Town of Essex to preserve the building (managed by Heritage Colchester). Thanks to the “Rutledge Report” generated by PreservationWorks! volunteer John Rutledge, the schoolhouse will be adapted to become a community centre with a walkway to the nearby shore of Lake Erie.