Lower Shell Schoolhouse
On U.S. Highway 14 about 6 miles east of Greybull

The Lower Shell Schoolhouse was one of the first non-log community buildings built in the Big Horn Basin. Using a classic one room schoolhouse design, it was constructed on this site in 1903 on land which had been donated to the Odessa School District. The school district was named for the nearby Odessa Post Office which had operated from 1891 to 1895. Local homesteaders quarried sandstone from the surrounding hills and assisted in the construction of the 24’ by 46’ building. During the 1905-1906 school year forty students were enrolled here demonstrating the early settlers’ high regard for education.

Although the building was mainly used as a school, it also functioned as a church for traveling preachers and as a community dance hall. A wide variety of organizations, from cemetery boards to the farm bureau, held meetings here as well. Use as a school ended in the early 1950s, but the building continued to be used as a meeting hall until the early 1970s.

In 1980 the foundation received new footings and the roof was reshingled as an effort was made to stabilize the building after nearly a decade of neglect. The addition to the rear of the building was completed in 1988, using the same architectural design as the original construction. The historical appearance was thus retained, while at the same time the building could serve as an art gallery, bookstore and information center.

The simple form of the schoolhouse epitomizes the austere life of the region’s early pioneers. Shell Valley’s lush irrigated farm fields contrast with the arid topography of the basin demonstrating the current results of their earlier endeavors. As one of a few remaining one room schoolhouses in Wyoming the “old stone school”, as it was often called, has received recognition by enrollment in the National Register of Historic Places.

The building houses the Stone School Gallery & Bookstore which has books, maps, and artwork of the region.