Take Note

When the Boise, Idaho, school district set out to build Riverside Elementary School four years ago, it thought it might have to demolish or relocate an 112-year-old house on the proposed site for the new school.

Instead, the district got together with the Idaho Historic Preservation Council to restore the building, known as Bown House. In the process, they turned the home of an early Idaho settler into a living history lesson.

School board member Janet Orndorff said that although the house was in good shape, major problems had to be addressed, including rewiring the electrical system and putting in a new heating system. "The house is built of 20-inch-thick sandstone blocks, so that was a...