Residents regret losing landmark
Updated: December 6, 2012
MACON COUNTY -- A small town is losing one of its landmarks. Maroa is tearing down its nearly century-old grade school. WCIA-3's Ashley Michels shows how much it meant to the community.
With every scoop of rubble, a flood of memories heads to the dump. Mangled wires, crumbling walls and mountains of concrete. That's all that's left of this 90-year old schoolhouse.
"It may not look like much now, but to the people in this community, this place is a lot more than just a pile of old bricks."
Hundreds of kids walked the halls of Maroa Elementary over the years. It's where they got their education and made lifelong friends.
"We used to go down there and play on the playground, go to ballgames all the time."
Janet Nix had her first day of school there. She says she remembers her time there as if it was yesterday.
"As you grew and got older, you went up in the building."
But, now it's coming down. The city's turning it into a parking lot to save money.
"I think it's very sad. It'll never be the same. It's going to look empty."
The building's been empty for almost a decade. Now, kids go to school in Forsyth. Still, the people here say the old red-brick schoolhouse is a landmark, "I think it's a neat building," and are sad to see it go.
"I sat and watched it for 43-yearsr out of my window. I'm going to miss it."
The city says tearing down the school will save about $2,000 a month in utility bills, and opens up more room to park for sporting events.
With every scoop of rubble, a flood of memories heads to the dump. Mangled wires, crumbling walls and mountains of concrete. That's all that's left of this 90-year old schoolhouse.
"It may not look like much now, but to the people in this community, this place is a lot more than just a pile of old bricks."
Hundreds of kids walked the halls of Maroa Elementary over the years. It's where they got their education and made lifelong friends.
"We used to go down there and play on the playground, go to ballgames all the time."
Janet Nix had her first day of school there. She says she remembers her time there as if it was yesterday.
"As you grew and got older, you went up in the building."
But, now it's coming down. The city's turning it into a parking lot to save money.
"I think it's very sad. It'll never be the same. It's going to look empty."
The building's been empty for almost a decade. Now, kids go to school in Forsyth. Still, the people here say the old red-brick schoolhouse is a landmark, "I think it's a neat building," and are sad to see it go.
"I sat and watched it for 43-yearsr out of my window. I'm going to miss it."
The city says tearing down the school will save about $2,000 a month in utility bills, and opens up more room to park for sporting events.
