A dilapidated eyesore or a charming historic treasure worth saving?
Either way, the original 80-year-old City Park School building was razed into a pile of steel, bricks and assorted rubble on Tuesday. Once the debris is hauled away, the site of the former school and Whitfield County government offices will become an extension of Dalton Green Park.
“Our medium-term vision, we’d like to have all of that property in-between City Hall and the courthouse and turn it into a true central park,” Dalton Mayor David Pennington said. “This is the first step to that.”
The city owns the property and city officials gave the OK to tear down the structure. Whitfield County Public Works crews began work on the building at the corner of Thornton Avenue and Waugh Street shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday. The county performed the in-kind work as part of the city/county Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) agreement. City crews also worked on the project.
Last week, crews demolished a building across the street from the old City Park School. The extra space will allow for traffic improvements at the intersection, officials said.
Onlookers milled about Dalton Green to watch the building come down. Children from nearby City Park School — the third building in Dalton to bear the name — watched as excavators knocked over the walls of the original City Park School. Some residents took pictures of the demolition to have that one last memory of the building. People talked about how family members attended school there. Others told stories of working in the building when it housed county offices. Some were disappointed the building wasn’t being saved.
Joanne Lewis and Kathryn Sellers, two members of the Dalton Historic Preservation Commission, were on hand for most of the day. After they heard about plans to tear the building down, they contacted city officials in hopes of preserving items such as the cupola, copper works and cement ornaments.
“We’re very happy the city and county worked with us and were able to save some of the historic aspects of the building,” Lewis said.
The building had remained vacant since the renovated courthouse opened in 2006 as magistrate court, the board of elections and other departments relocated to the courthouse. Pennington acknowledged there were “a few” people who wanted to see the building preserved. He said four years ago he asked community members to find a new use for the building. Four years later, no one could come up with a suitable use for the building, he said.
“My father went to school in that building, I went to school in that building and my siblings went to school in that building,” Pennington said. “I’ve yet to see anything historic about it ... In today’s time, the last thing we need is a dilapidated, deteriorating building right in the middle of Dalton, right in-between City Hall and the courthouse. It just doesn’t look good.”
The site was laid out by Capt. Edward White in the 1840s to be used “perpetually” as a school site. A log school house was later built there. In 1865, an academy was built on the property and eight years later, it became the Dalton Female College under the sponsorship of Wesleyan College of Macon and under the supervision of the Methodist Church.
According to an early yearbook, “Just in front of the building is an elegant park to which pupils have access. It has a fountain and other various attractions that delight the young ladies.”
That’s where the name City Park was born.
The college closed in 1909. The building was then incorporated into the Dalton Public Schools system as first a high school, then a primary school. From September 1932 to December 1932, City Park students in grades first through fourth met in the Dalton High School building, which was the yellow building on Thornton Avenue, in the morning until their school was completed. The high school students attended in the afternoon. The old high school has also since been demolished.
The City Park building was constructed in 1932. The following year City Park School opened its doors to children during The Great Depression. Margie Huff Hill was principal for grades first through fourth. The lunch program didn’t start there until 1945 at a cost of $4,000 for the first year. In the 1950s, a cafeteria, stage and three classrooms were added. Grades first through sixth were added in 1963. The school closed in 1976.
Gertrude McFarland was in the fourth grade at City Park in 1935. She remembers when Hill selected her as one of the students to spread peanut butter and jelly on bread for those who couldn’t afford to bring their own lunch.
“I can remember standing in the hallway eating more peanut butter and jelly than I spread on the sandwiches!” she said.
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Related Photos
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The cupola comes down from the original City Park building for preservation on Tuesday. (Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)
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People watch as the cupola on the original City Park building is taken down to preserve on Tuesday. (Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)
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Whitfield County workers watch as the cupola is taken off the original City Park building on Tuesday. (Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)
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City and country crews tear down the original City Park building on Tuesday. (Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)
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Discussion
August 29, 2012
City Park to become a city park again
1930s-era building demolished
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