A Final Tour of 5th Avenue Elementary
Decatur Metro | August 15, 2010Late last week, DHS teacher Chris Billingsley took a final tour of the 5th Avenue School property before it has its meeting with the wrecking ball beginning tomorrow.
Above are his pictures, below his written account. Many thanks to Chris for forwarding all this material!
As a life-long resident of Decatur, I found it strange that this was my first and last tour of the historic 5thAvenue school. I grew up on the north side and never had much experience in south Decatur until I started teaching at DHS in the 1970s. My first surprise was that the main entrance was not on Oakview (the grand, twenty step staircase that fronts Oakview) but the entrance that faces 5th Avenue. It reminded me of the old Ponce Elementary School and Winnona Park.
Walking through the oldest part of the school, I tried to imagine whatit was like in 1926 when it first opened. When we descended to the original cafeteria under the auditorium, I reminded Coach Fowlkes that it was Friday the Thirteenth! We did not meet any Freddie Kruger types but it was kinda creepy. I hope that someone can provide pictures of school life from the early days. I was particularly impressed with the grand staircase. For first graders, climbing those stairs must have seemed like climbing Stone Mountain. When we finally left, I wondered out loud what would happen to the old flagpole near the 5th Avenue entrance. It looks an original piece. Maybe someone can comment on this and the flagpole can be saved and become part of the new facility. It would be nice if the new building can incorporate a few reminders of the past. The capstone over the main entrance, the wrought iron railing at the top of the grand staircase, and the flagpole might be good choices.
The 1920&30 graduates of the old 5thAvenue school survived the Great Depression, helped defeat Germany and Japan during WWII, and won the Cold War. We honor their sacrifices by preserving a few things from their grand old school. “Walls of knowledge, hope and courage, in tradition bound…” So goes the words of the DHS alma mater. Thanks to all who served at 5th Avenue. You helped shape what Decatur is today. God bless you all!
I just can’t believe that 5th Ave. Is going to be torn down and a new school built by August 2011
Look at all the hardwood floors. I wonder if someone would be interested in reusing those!
Will they reuse/reclaim the brick and hardwood? I’m sure it’s valuable.
On seeing my photos of the hardware floors, Doc Al, owner of the Trackside Tavern, was very interested in using some of it for the new buildout, and will be making some inquiries ASAP.
You can see a video montage at ndecatur.com.
I wonder how it will get done in a year too. It’s great if it does, but I’d rather that they be delayed a year and open in August 2012 than rush to try to make a deadline and end up with problems. It’s important to get this right.
Eleven months does seem like a short time to raze a school completely and build another but it’s a big ticket item and the builder can probably do most of it. But pieces may be unfinished–after its renovation, Clairemont sat without any playground, just a muddy field, for a year . But Clairemont had no choice–it had no where else to put the kids. Agree with everyone that it would be better to delay the big 4/5 Academy move if it will make a difference in getting everything right and having all pieces in place when students and teachers move in. But there’s pressure from behind to vacate Glennwood. There’s a K-3 needing to form. Evidently enrollment is continuing to climb–a 7% increase so far this year, I heard.
Thanks for sharing the photos of the old school! You can practically hear the little voices that once filled its rooms & hallways. It’d be super cool if Mr B could get a photo of the mural to the artist. (Wish it could be somehow salvaged too.)
May the new 5th Avenue school be a marvelous & imaginative space for Decatur’s bright young folks!
To anyone looking to salvage/reclaim materials at Fifth Avenue: ACT FAST.
During last week’s board meeting, Julie Rhame asked about plans to salvage/reclaim materials at the site. Susan Simpson (the project manager from Rosser, who can be reached at CSD’s Central Office) said no particular plans existed, and not much would be worth saving. She alluded to the difficulty of managing such efforts as folks inevitably compete for salvaged items — which, in turn, would oblige CSD to act extremely carefully, transparently and fairly.
Dr Edwards stressed the importance of duplicating successes at the high school, though, where bricks were shared with the community and some key architectural elements were salvaged (and incorporated into new construction, if only for display). Susan S responded by saying a keystone at Fifth Ave might fit the bill, but the conversation trailed off after that. I would recommend contacting Susan S for more details.