County leaning toward demolition of Jones School

Last occupied for anything more than storage in 2011, Jones School has fallen into ruin and is likely to be torn down by the county.

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Eventually Mary Emma Jones School is going to come down, one way or another.

With the building having served 47 years as an elementary school and 10 more as the Putnam County Courthouse Annex, the 66-year-old building has spent the last nine beginning to fall down from neglect.

However, the Putnam County Commissioners are likely to have it torn down sooner. That seemed to be their leaning during their Tuesday morning meeting, to raze the structure and keep the land for future development.

In 2017, the county was poised to sell the property at the corner of Madison and Liberty streets on the city’s West Side to Milestone Ventures.

The development company was seeking tax credits to turn the former school into senior housing — something that had been done twice before in the city, with both the former Greencastle Junior High School and Miller School now serving as senior apartments.

But the tax credits never materialized, so the deal was never closed. In July, county officials voted to move on from the deal with Milestone, leaving questions for the Putnam County Commissioners and Putnam County Council.

Commissioner President Rick Woodall went before the council last month.

“They, overwhelmingly, would like to keep it,” Woodall explained to fellow commissioners David Berry and Don Walton. “That’s why I put it on the agenda for the three of us to decide, do we want to keep it? And if we do, we need to start making plans to tear the building down. And if we do, we also need to make plans for where to store the stuff. Dave and I were in there two weeks ago and the conditions are not good.”

In the nine years since the building was last used as the annex, the building has gone downhill, with a roof that leaks throughout most of the building and boarded up windows all around.

Only the gymnasium remains sound, but even that has become overrun by birds, even as it remains a storage location for some county records.

“I think we ought to build a building to store existing records that are down there,” Berry said, “and then plan for future expansion and then tear that building down and clear the lot.”

“I think that’s a pretty good idea,” Walton agreed.

In recent years, the commissioners have set aside Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) funds for the future development of an annex.

County Attorney Jim Ensley advised the commissioners those funds could be used to raze the current structure and build a storage building.

While plans remain tentative at this time, county officials plan to contact the City of Greencastle about what permits might be needed for demolition and construction.

Jones School served elementary school students on the city’s West Side from 1954 until 2001.

It was then sold to Putnam County for $1 and served as the Putnam County Annex from 2002 through 2011, when roof and other problems forced the Putnam County Commissioners to shutter the building.