reprinted from the Annandale Advocate, October 10, 2012 - with their permission:

Editorial by TOM WESTMAN, staff writer – Oct 10, 2012

I love old buildings and I hate to see them torn down. Grant Elementary School, on the east side of St. Paul is where I attended through the second grade. It was a beautiful building, sitting high on a hill, built in 1887. It was a stately brick building with a big bell tower. It along with two other elementary schools were torn down in 1971 and replaced with a modern East Side Consolidated school. It has been fifty two years since I attended school there, but it still saddens me when I think of that beautiful building that is no more.

There are a number of buildings in Annandale that I am particularly fond of. My top three would be the Thayer Hotel, the Annandale State Bank (now Zahler Photography)building, and the 1922 portion of the Annandale Middle School. Of these three, the only one in immediate danger of being torn down is the 1922 building.

I drive by the middle school just about every day and each time, my eye is always drawn to the 1922 building. It is beautiful, stately building, so rich in history to so many Annandale residents.

This fall I have been volunteering in the fifth grade wing of the building and love the high ceilings and huge windows. Recently I also got my first glance of the gym in the 1922 building. While I thought it was rather small for a gym, I was really impressed with all the windows, that is something you don’t see very often.

The Annandale School district has said clearly that once the new elementary school opens in the Fall of 2013, the district has no use for the 1922 portion of the building. Unless someone, some business or group, can come up with a viable use for the 90 year old building, it will be demolished.

This year, only the first floor is being utilized, it is where the fifth grade classrooms are located. The gymnasium (C gym) is being utilized for gymnastics. The fifth grade will be moving to the new elementary school and gymnastics will be moved to the lower level gymnasium (the B gym) in the Fall of 2013.

The school district has said that it can not afford to keep an occupied building standing. The building would have to heated as it is protected from fire with a water-sprinkling system.

Tearing the building down would also come with costs. The district has not estimated the cost of demolition, but it certainly would not be cheap. Asbestos abatement is not cheap. It is also my understanding that some of the 1922 building’s electrical, heating and plumbing may be intertwined with the newer additions to the building.

The school district is holding two public hearings concerning the closing of 1922 building; Monday, Oct. 15 and Monday October 29 at 7 p.m. at the Annandale Middle School. State law requires school districts to hold such hearings when they wish to close a school.

All indications are that the school district will demolish the building unless the community comes up with an alternative (non educational) use. Coming to this meeting and telling the board how much we all love the stately building which holds many memories, is not going to save the building.

I would hope that the meeting would spark enough interest for a group to start seriously trying to find a viable use for the building. If it looks like there is such a serious effort, I would hope the school district would delay the demolition and cooperate with the effort.

It is also not going to do any good to blame the school board for wanting to demolish the building. Having no use for the building, they have determined that it is the fiscally responsible thing to do.

I hope that many people come to the two public hearings, not only showing support to keep the 1922 building, but offering viable ideas for it’s future use in the community. If you have an idea for a viable community use for the building, come to the meeting and speak up!