Old school building saved from wrecking ball, to become health clinic


Old school building saved from wrecking ball, to become health clinic

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Several months after neighbors gathered to stop the demolition of an old school building, their efforts paid off. The superintendent of Fort Wayne Community Schools revealed Wednesday that the former L.C. Ward Education Center would be transferred to Neighborhood Health.

Community leaders and neighbors of the school gathered to hear Dr. Mark Daniel’s announcement. If all goes to plan, the change in ownership will happen at no cost. The decision made saves the school system more than $200,000 in demolition costs.

“It’s an awesome way to start the year… to bring hope, to bring wellness, to bring education, to bring opportunities,” Diane Rogers told WANE 15 after the announcement.

Rogers was one of several people who gathered on the front steps of the school back in August, holding signs and chanting, in an effort to save it from the wrecking ball.

FWCS hasn’t utilized the building for more than three years. FWCS board chair Julie Hollingsworth explained at Wednesday’s announcement, because of Indiana state law, the building couldn’t be turned over until two years had passed.

Lockers remain intact while other fatigue has happened inside the old Ward School building since it was last used, including holes in walls and ceilings.

“We connected, Rogers added. “Our energy connected with the same message: we do not want this building tore down.”

Another person who played a key role was Donita Mudd. She talked with WANE 15 at the August event after she discovered there was a demolition notice had been published.

“Talk to people, write letters, send emails, make sure your community knows, because a lot of people did not know that it was up for demolition,” Mudd said of others in the community who find themselves in the same spot. “If you can’t get a rise out of them, go to the next group of people. And if necessary, like we did, we had some people come out here, we held signs, we called you guys to come out and let the city know what’s going on and likely somewhere in that process, this organization, Neighborhood Health Clinic, saw that they could make use of it.”

Neighborhood Health has planned to turn the space into to provide health, dental and vision services to the surrounding community.

“Some of the people in the neighborhood are personal friends, and I think that it’s going to be exciting to have our services closer to where most of our patients live,” Angle Zaegel, the CEO of Neighborhood Health said.

“Everything they have planned is idea, great, we need it,” Mudd added.

Zaegel told WANE 15 Neighborhood Health hopes to be in the building’s ground level by the end of the year, with a long-term plan that finds use for the second floor beyond that timeframe.


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