with an album by Jean Martin
SJ Board of Education makes plans for sale of city properties
East Ward (Theresa Merrill) School was designed by Oliver Hidden and opened in 1876.
It was enlarged in 1908. It was placed on the U.S. Register of Historic places in May, 1980.
A day after three new city schools were dedicated, the St. Johns Board of Education began the process for disposal of three “old” city sites. Board members approved the start of plans which will result in the sale of Swegles Elementary School, and razing of Perrin-Palmer and Theresa Merrill prior to the sale of the sites.
The East Ward School was a single-story brick structure consisting of two sections: the original building, constructed in 1876, and a 1906 addition. The 1876 building was a rectangular structure, with a low hip roof with a gable at each end. A projecting entrance had an arced, recessed porch topped with another gable. The brickwork contained an elaborate decorative scheme with corbelled and paneled bricks. There were two rooms in the interior.
The 1906 addition was approximately the same size as the earlier section, and also contained two rooms. It had a high hip roof and brickwork that matched that of the earlier section.
A bell tower which was originally above the front entrance to the older section had been removed. In addition, the original narrow windows of the older section had been removed and replaced with wider windows which matched the newer section.
One more visage of Oliver Hidden architecture crumbles Jan. 5, 2000
by Rhonda Dedyne
First there was the old Clinton County Courthouse; then Central School toppled and fell; and last week Teresa Merrill School came tumbling down.
Constructed in 1876 at a cost of $2,000, the former East Ward School was one of several renowned public and private buildings in St. Johns designed by Oliver Hidden.
Along with the courthouse and Central School, other sites in St. Johns that bore the Hidden touch were the old Steel Hotel, North Ward School (also built in 1876 as a predecessor to Perrin Palmer), and the former John Hicks house located on State Street.
Both Central School and Teresa Merrill were listed on the National Register of Historic Sites.
Community and alternative education classes had been located at the Teresa Merrill site from the mid-1980s until the current school year. Those students are now housed in the renovated Wilson Center, formerly Rodney B. Wilson Middle School.
The relocation of classes from Teresa Merrill to the Wilson Center foreshadowed the eventual demolition of the oldest remaining school building in St. Johns.
“We did have a couple people who were interested in it, but once they went through and saw the amount of work and money that would be needed for renovations that interest was gone,” said St. Johns School Supt. Dick Tait.
A $24,000 contract for demolition of the school was awarded to H&M Demolition of Holland, which also was the low bidder on the Perrin Palmer property that was razed last year.
“The board decided to take it (Teresa Merrill) down for liability reasons, and also to make it more attractive to sell the site as vacant land,” Tait said.
Appraisals on the property as vacant land are in the $400,000 range, he said. It is currently zoned for municipal use.
The fact that the building was registered as historic site posed no problems in terms of demolition.
“If we would have used any federal or state-designated dollars to renovate it, there would have been a complicated procedure to follow,” Tait said, adding that the district had consulted its attorneys in checking on the legality of demolishing the building.
In its day, the old East Ward School was a architectural gem, known particularly for its unique brickwork. The following information is provided courtesy of Brian Grennell, an area resident who documented Hidden’s works in a 1998 research paper.
“East Ward was one-story, built of a salmon colored brick. The stepped brickwork pattern was incorporated along the top of the walls below the eaves, creating a bracketed effect. Sharp gables rising from the front and sides pierced the roof line.
“Large arches framed the three doorways and the classroom windows consisted of large rectangular openings in the brick, within which multiple double hung sashes were framed.
“The 1906 addition, generally similar in size to the earlier section, is a two-room block with a high hip roof and corbelled and paneled brickwork matching that of the 1876 building.
“A mansard-roof bell tower which once capped the front gable of the older section of the school has been removed and the narrow windows of the older section have been replaced by broad ones matching those in the newer section.
“The interior was finished in a simple manner, with beaded pine wainscot and throughout, and trimmed with oak and ash.”Its original East Ward name was changed in 1976 when the school district recognized a veteran educator, Teresa Merrill, by naming the building in her honor. Mrs. Merrill retired in 1957 – after teaching in St. Johns Public Schools for 50 years, including 27 years as principal at East Ward.
The following comments were posted at the Chatterbox following the demolition:
Posted by Terry Jasso (Salazar) on January 07:
I no longer live in St. Johns but every time I go back to visit I love to drive through town and reminisce about the old times I spent here. I use to live right across from the East Ward school and have a lot of memories of playing in that school yard with all the neighbor kids. I was also back in town for my 20 year reunion in August and seen some of those kids that I started school with at East Ward. So it really saddens me to see all these historical places in St. Johns being demolished. I sure wish there were a way to save some of these places. They really give St. Johns character and before you know it they’ll be gone and it will look like any other big city.
Posted by Sherry Kentfield Szekeres on January 09:
I agree with you. I, too, lived across the street from East Ward School. I attended first grade thru fourth grade there. Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Merrill were my favorite teachers. All the neighborhood kids would play softball on the field at the school most summer evenings. I won my hula hoop contest in the yard of the school. There wasn’t much playground equipment, but we enjoyed the swings and we could touch our feet on the tree limbs if we dared to go high enough. I must have attended school there in the early ’50s, but I returned in the late ’70s to let my daughter swing on the same swings. It is sad to read about the demolition of my old school buildings. They will be missed.
Posted by Brek Rosengren on January 10:
I lived two houses from East Ward school and went there for a half a year in 1968. I was in 3rd grade and had Mrs. Pitts for a teacher, she was also the principal. Right across the street from us was the Snader family (Snater?) and down the street was the Huntley family and Paradise Radio and T.V. In the summer time Doug Huntley and I snuck down a ladder off his balcony during a sleep over and went to East Ward school and played on the swings and shot our cap guns in the middle of the night, in the dark. I moved to Grand Rapids that summer, but I’ll never forget the fun we had. Sometimes my old memories seem like one of those coming of age movies like “Stand By Me” or “Summer of ’42” or “American Graffiti”.
Posted by Evelyn Bush on January 14:
It really saddens me to see so many of the old historical buildings leveled to just a memory in St. Johns. Especially Theresa Merrill School, because I got to look at it every day. I really miss the kids that played outside, their laughter and all the excitement that went along with making new friends and playing with old ones. I miss the kids that would get a basketball game going after school and the ones that would just come to swing or go down the big slide. We visited Europe last year and it really made me realize what a throw away country we live in.
In Germany they would never think of scraping old buildings. They make do with what they have and take good care of it. They take pride in their old buildings. A friend of mine was able to go in for one last look before they demolished the building and said there were desks left in there, Xmas decorations, shelves, even clocks on the walls (and a lot of other things). Couldn’t some of that stuff been useful to someone? Nobody asked. Now its all in a landfill somewhere. Just a memory.