Take Me I’m Yours! A FREE HOUSE! You Only Need To…
Many admire the Pink House that you see on the way to Plum Island and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, so much so that when it came time to demolish there was public outcry. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to preserve the house by either of these two conditions. Option number one: a person can take ownership if they are willing to move the house off the land, or option number two is that if you own several acres of comparable land near the refuge, you can exchange the land for the house. Option two allows the house to stay in its current location.
Perhaps the Pink House could become a community or art center. The building has been deemed structurally sound, although there is quite a bit of asbestos that needs removing.
The Pink House is the last house remaining on the refuge. All other homes and farms were either sold or taken by eminent domain; the very last on Stage Island was demolished just this past year.
Snowy Owls, Red-tailed Hawks, and other raptors like to perch on the cupola of the Pink House.
Good Morning Gloucester 
Selfishly I hope time stands still for this house. I love how it welcomes you into the refuge! 😀
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Excellent comment and I am with you here! It does have residents already as well feather kind! Or do something like they did for this old school house in Eastern Colorado Springs! Had a friend that was a caretaker for in the 1980’s and lived in a house provided rent free next door while I was still activity duty USAF.
https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/08000290.pdf Partial only below:
“The Historic Structure Assessment (HSA) noted the additional following changes to the school building (SlaterPaull Architects 2006:5). The stage which functioned as a third classroom was built in 1930. The building was originally heated with coal or wood fired stoves, water was brought in from the on-site well, and there was no electricity until 1948. Some interior plumbing was installed prior to 1949 and
included two drinking fountains and the kitchen sink. The pump room was converted into a toilet room sometime between 1955 and 1960. [This document later indicates that “the toilet room and drinking fountain were added when running water was brought into the building ca. 1950-55.”] The school’s metal roof was installed in 1965 over the original wood shingles. It is believed that the coal shed
received its metal roof and masonite siding about the same time. Photographic evidence illustrates the building has undergone very few exterior changes over the years.
Photographs dated 1927 and 1929 show an open entrance with handrail to the basement on the south facade where the covered entry is now. HSA architects concluded that these covered entries were added sometime in the 1930s. They speculated that the WPA might have created these additions when on site for other construction work as they contain similar materials, including horizontal bead
board interior walls. Another notable exterior change is the fluctuating wall color. The building was often seen in old photographs (many undated) with dark shingled walls and white trim or with light colored walls and dark trim. One undated newspaper article that included a photo of the school shortly after it closed described it as a “white schoolhouse with red trim.” A 1993 newspaper article noted that the building glistened “under a fresh coat of green and white paint.” A stoop and a wide board handrail were added
NPS Form 10-900a (Rev. 8/86) OMBNo. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Drennan School
El Paso County/ Colorado
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Section number 7 Page _7
Rural School Buildings in Colorado MPS
to the basement entry at the southwest corner in 2004. The schoolyard has changed over time. Purportedly the WPA constructed several of the outbuildings in the 1930s, notably the two privies and the coal shed, although confirmation of this and the exact dates of construction remain elusive. It is not known when the garage that occupied the northwest corner was removed. The windmill was sold off and nature reclaimed the area of the gravel basketball courts. Floyd Brewer planted the two rows of tree that serve as a windbreak after the school closed.”
What a history and had owls in the tree’s surround the property the University folks kept track of had many a great time out here my other escape back then very rural still now it’s built up quite a bit..
🙂 Dave & Kim 🙂
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Much nicer than that new weird freaky house on the left, which looks like a Monopoly house on stilts!
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Is there so much asbestos because the shingles are made of it?
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I imagine it is asbestos shingles, but the warden didn’t say that specifically. She did say the clean up was estimated at $20,000.00.
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I heard asbestos shingles are safe as long as you don’t lick them.
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Similarly to lead paint, the toxicity is in the removal process (and licking).
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