School reuse plan falls in line with school board's hopes for former schools

Jan 29, 2024

The former Garfield School building is pictured in Decatur on Tuesday.

DECATUR — If the project to convert the former Garfield School on West Grand Avenue into a senior living center is successful, it will give new life to the only unused building in the school district that Decatur Public Schools still owns.

District spokeswoman Denise Swarthout said the district is working with the developer, who is believed to be Bywater Development Group based in St. Louis, Mo., on the project.

Repurposing the former school building fits in with the Decatur school board's policy of selling or demolishing empty buildings to avoid leaving them to deteriorate and cause blight, said Swarthout.

The building on Grand Avenue was Garfield School until 2000, when the Garfield Montessori School moved its program and its name to the former John Adams School in South Shores and Durfee Magnet School moved into the building on Grand.

Under the BOLD Facilities Plan of former Superintendent Paul Fregeau, Garfield and Enterprise's Montessori programs were combined into Montessori Academy for Peace and moved to the former Thomas Jefferson Middle School. Other buildings were closed and consolidated. Durfee closed and the students were sent back to their home schools. Stevenson School was consolidated with Parsons School, but the building is in use now by Futures Unlimited and Milligan Academy, alternative education programs of the Macon-Piatt Regional Office of Education. Oak Grove School consolidated with Franklin and the name was changed to Franklin Grove to reflect that. Oak Grove's building was torn down and a new American Dreamer STEM Academy will be built on that site.

Other former school buildings have been bought and reused by others, including the former Roosevelt Junior High, now transformed into apartments, not far from Durfee's building on West Grand Avenue.

Woodrow Wilson Junior High in the west end is part of a deal between the city of Decatur and Decatur schools. The city bought the property from Macon County after it was foreclosed on for unpaid property tax and will demolish the building, then sell the property to Decatur schools for half the cost of the demolition. The building had been owned by an out-of-state investor for many years, but left to decay and had become unsafe.

The former Centennial/Coppenbarger school building is no longer owned by the district, Swarthout said.

1974: Freshman Vince Barnett, a former Decatur MacArthur High School player, is a member of the junior varsity basketball squad at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

1978: Barb Tate, 17-year-old spring graduate of MacArthur High School, continued to leave the field gasping in her wake with a final round of 79 at Scovill Golf Course to capture the championship of the 50th Decatur Herald & Review City Women's Amateur golf tournament with a 54-hole total of 245.

1983: Chris, left, and Mike Woody are identical twins who play for Stephen Decatur High School. Coach Ed Boehm said he had trouble telling them apart, "So I decided to put them both at linebacker. That way I could just yell: 'Hey, Woody.' " Chris leads the team with 74 tackles. Mike is second with 65.

1981: Shelbyville High School receiver Drew Woodruff was on target in the opener against Sullivan. Woodruff nabbed a 60-year touchdown pass from quarterback Trey Cox in the first quarter. It turned out to be the winning score.

1988: Former MacArthur High School band director Bob Kruzan has been a driving force behind a program of putting musical instruments in the hands of students who could not afford to buy or rent instruments. Kruzan asked the Kiwanis Club for help and with Thompson-Kramer Music Co., 22 instruments were donated and repaired. The Kiwanis Club provided $1,000 for repairs.

1982: In February, the day after the Decatur Board of Education voted to close their school, a group of juniors from Lakeview High School painted the words 'LHS lives on forever' on the concrete abutment adjacent to Cerro Gordo Street overlooking East William Street Road. It was meant as an expression of loyalty, however, others thought it was an eyesore. So in April, students showed up to give the wall a solid coat of paint, covering the graffiti. In the foreground is Gary Weeks.

1967: Rich Edwards, left, and John Campbell, right operate TV cameras at Lakeview High School. At the high school, television is more than just viewing educational or entertaining programs. Classes are being videotaped and played back with the aim of aiding teachers in improved teaching methods.

1977: The Eisenhower High School Band was out in force and in full regalia during the Labor Day parade.

1980: Eisenhower High School won the city public school volleyball championship by compiling a 3-0 record. Front row, from left, assistant Coach Rosemary Anthony, Kelly Quinlan, Amy Webb, Margie Simon, Sheri Smith, Coach Chuck Force and Manager Donna Pratt. Back row, Ann Wasilewski, Reeni McElyea, Karen Woolen, Julie DePesa and Lori Boland.

1982: Stephen Decatur High School relay runners will be featured in the girls Area Best track and field meet at Millikin University. The 400, 800 and 1,600 relay groups set school records in winning in the MacArthur district meet. The runners, from left, Susie Hunt, Beth Schumacher, Debbie Schile, Michelle Morthland, Debra Thomas and Earline Allen.

1958: A class in the homemaking department at Eisenhower High School is shown taking a test, with desk chairs scattered in a large room created by opening the folding partitions which separate three classrooms.

1943: Decatur and Pana high school seniors are among those who are being trained in preparation for jobs in war industries in the new program offered at the NYA war production center. Operating lathes in the machine shop at the center are, Lorna Hemphill and Mary Eleanor Dembow, Pana High School. In the foreground, from left are Gerald Moore and Bill Medley, St. Teresa High School.

1984: Linda Kingston, 17; Mark Muschal, 16; and Amanda Harres, 17, prepare for one of the actis for Eisenhower High School's fall talent show, 'Sights and Sounds of '84.' The performance will feature all-student talent.

1962: Students are served lunch at Eisenhower High School. Thirty-one tons of hamburger and two million half pints of milk are just part of the annual grocery order put in for Decatur public school cafeterias. Each school day, more than 4,250 meals are served by 90 women in 17 cafeterias. Helen G. Hill is the cafeteria director who is behind the entire operation.

DATE UNKNOWN: Students work in the forge and blacksmith department at Decatur High School.

1979: St. Teresa High School cheerleaders, front row from left, Tonya Burke, Joanie Yonker and Julie Bollero. Second row: Mary Turner, Kay Turner, Peggy McCarthy and Cathy Kaelin. Not pictured is Heidi Arseneault.

1962: Four Eisenhower High School players named to then Herald & Review All-City Football Squad. From left, Paul Shaw, tackle; Doug Smith, halfback; Carl Hanson, tackle; and Jim Harvey, lineman.

1990: Fighting for the quarterback position at Eisenhower High School are, from left, Julian Watson, Maxie Johnson and Todd Jacobs.

1981: Offensive and defensive backs for MacArthur High School's football team are, from left, Danny Lee, Kyle Risby and Terry Spence.

1975: Matt Tyner, MacArthur High School quarterback, left, gives some instructions to his starting backfield teammates in preparation for the Generals' big game against crosstown rival Eisenhower at Matheson Field. Listening to Tyner are running backs Carl Spence, Zannie Rawls and Art Perkins.

1984: Eisenhower High School's girls bowling team was 11th in the state tournament after an 11-1 record during the regular season. Eisenhower won the sectional tournament with an all-time high six-game score for a Decatur team – 4,908. At top, from left, Lori Holt, Melinda Poe, Barb Wuellner, Darla Henry, Valerie Bonnell; bottom, Sharmil Ford, Linda Wuellner, Carolyn Thommas, Kim Cookson and Julie Boatz. Thommas was 17th individually in the state tournament.

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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Education reporter for the Herald & Review.

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