The Ripon Rabbit
About this show
Three years after Ripon’s Little White Schoolhouse was lifted from its foundation and moved to a new location, the paper trail is finally catching up with the story.
In 2023 we were also told the schoolhouse had lost its National Historic Landmark designation.
And now, in 2026 seven members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation wrote Washington asking that it be restored.
There was only one problem; The National Park Service says it was never withdrawn.
Tonight, AJ the Ripon Rabbit returns to the documents obtained through open-records requests and follows the updated trail from the original federal warning to the Wisconsin Historical Society memo, the move itself, the recent congressional request and the surprising response from the National Park Service earlier this month.
Why was the move carried out after federal officials called the new location inappropriate and refused to approve it?
And could the relocated schoolhouse still face a future federal review because of its new location and setting?
This is not simply a story about a small white building.
It is a story about public history, private control, hidden consequences, broken promises and a community’s right to know the truth before an irreversible decision is made.
Join AJ tonight at 8:00 PM Central for a one-hour update to the investigation into the Little White Schoolhouse and the question Ripon officials have yet to answer:
If the Landmark designation was never lost, what exactly needs restoring?
The designation survived.
Did public trust?
