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County to tear down Jones School, keep land
After more than 11 years of sitting all but vacant, Jones School will be torn down.
On Monday, the Putnam County Commissioners announced their intention to demolish the one-time Greencastle elementary school, which from 2001-2011 served as the Putnam County Courthouse Annex.
Since the county closed the building as annex in 2011, officials have alternated between the opinion that the building and land should be sold and that it should be held retained for the site of a future annex.
In 2017, the county even agreed in principle to the sale of the building and land to Milestone Ventures to turn the existing building into senior housing. However, Milestone was unable to obtain the Indiana tax credits it had in previous projects such as at the former Miller School, so the sale fell through.
Now, with a recent space study completed noting that the county likely needs two structures to house all of its court and administrative offices, the Commissioners seem to have settled on utilizing the land at the corner of Liberty and Madison streets.
Commissioner President Rick Woodall made the announcement on behalf of fellow commissioners Tom Helmer and David Berry.
“We have made the decision, the three of us, that we are going to keep that property,” Woodall said. “Tom and I have asked Dave if he would take that project on of having that building demolished. Dave is going to move forward and go out and start the process of having that building demolished.”
They hope to find an economical solution to razing the structure, something they had examined in the past.
“I had a bid for that of $90,000,” Berry said regarding a quote from several years ago. “I’m going to reach back out to that person.”
With no current bids submitted, no timetable for the work was shared.
The county moved all offices out of the building in late 2011 due to the deteriorating condition of the building, namely the roof. However, until recently, records were still kept in the school gym until its roof also became a major problem.
“That building is doing nothing but causing us havoc,” Woodall said. “People are breaking into it. It’s all boarded up. It looks terrible and deplorable and we’re going to tear it down.”
Mary Emma Jones School served elementary school students on the city’s West Side from 1954 until 2001, when Greencastle Community Schools sold it to the county for $1.
More from the Putnam County Commissioners meeting will be featured at www.bannergraphic.com and in an upcoming issue of the Banner Graphic.