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Oakland Church of
the Brethren and Flora Excavating volunteers remove tires from the
playground of Gettysburg Elementary School. The school will be getting
new life as the Cardinal Community Center. Photo by Bob Robinson.
Gettysburg
school gets new life
By Bob Robinson
GETTYSBURG – Retired from service as a building to educate children,
the 92-year-old Gettysburg Elementary School has been given a new name
and a new mission. The Cardinal Community Center will be available for
events, meetings and activities in another couple of weeks, according
to Gettysburg Village Councilman Brett Clark. The community wing is
phase one of the project.
“We just passed health inspection last night,” Clark said. “Only a few
more things left and we’ll be ready.”
On July 20, Oakland Church of the Brethren and Flora Excavating
partnered to remove several huge tires from the playground, along with
repairing a few other areas.
“The insurance company felt the tires were a liability, so we
volunteered to remove them,” said Frank Marchal, church member. “The
Cardinal committee asked for our help. We didn’t really have the money,
but we had some manpower we could offer…
“Just a bunch of us Mutt and Jeff’s here getting stuff out,” he added.
Ed Flora’s dad, Hollis, graduated from Gettysburg, Marchal said. Flora
provided the equipment and the manpower to run it.
“The goal is to make the school viable as a community center.”
Tim Apple, another Oakland Church volunteer, said, grinning, “It’ll be
here another 200 years.”
Gettysburg Elementary became part of the Greenville School District in
1972. The school was closed in 2007. According to Clark, it was sold by
auction in 2009. The buyers decided later the property didn’t fit their
needs, so they sold it by way of land contract to another individual
who eventually defaulted.
“Throughout this period, the property wasn’t well maintained,” Clark
said. “In early 2012, when the property was likely to go up for
Sheriff’s auction, the village was approached by an individual in
Greenville with a non-profit organization who had a strong interest in
the building, but the auction would take place before his funding came
through.”
The Village Council liked the idea better than risk another pattern of
neglect. The purchase price was $39,000. A down payment of $15,000 was
made. After two years of monthly payments, a final payment of $20,000
will be due in June 2014.
“Unfortunately, the individual we were going to sell the property to
was unable or unwilling to meet some of the council’s conditions and
the deal fell through,” Clark said.
The name, The Cardinal Center, came from the cardinal being the mascot
of the Gettysburg School District.
Phase two is the business/commercial wing, which is the three-floor
section of the building containing the bulk of the classrooms.
“A realty company came in wanting to manage the property, but we
decided to wait until the community wing was finished.” Clark added
there are plenty of opportunities.
“We have a nice little town,” he said. “It’s just a matter of finding
the right match.”
The community wing contains the gymnasium and several rooms which will
be available for rental and community activities. One room may be
reserved as a “heritage area.” The playground and ball field with a
terraced seating area will be available for use.
“The Greenville High School Marching Band is scheduled to use the ball
field for this year’s band camp,” Clark said.
Clark noted he’d heard mostly positive comments about the concept,
although some have wondered if they’ve bitten off more than they can
chew.
There seems to be no shortage of volunteer help.
“We have quite a few members from Gettysburg,” Marchal said as they
were removing tires and other materials from the playground. “It’s kind
of an outreach for us.”
“We’ve never done this sort of thing before, so it’s been a learning
experience,” Clark said. “We are extremely grateful to all the
volunteers who have donated their time and energy thus far.”
Published courtesy
of The Early Bird
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