The Oconto Falls School Board voted May 12 to award Peters Concrete the contract for demolishing Washington Middle School later this year, but not before hearing one last wrinkle from the president of the Oconto Falls Historical Society.
Donna Revello appeared during the board’s public comment period to ask the school district to consider donating the venerable school building to the society for preservation and upkeep.
The society has been looking for a building to serve as a museum for its growing collection of historical artifacts, Revello said. They had hoped to move the old Oconto Falls Town Hall to its property in the west side of the river, but a grant application was turned down, “so we’re looking for something else at this point to get ourselves a building.”
The school district is about to tear down a building with a lot of history and a lot of room for the various artifacts that the society has collected over the years, she said.
“What I’m proposing is maybe you hold off on taking it down, think about what I’m proposing,” Revello said. “If we can save a historical building, that’s what’s important to us. That’s our goal for the community and the surrounding area.”
But board members said the community made it clear they are ready to part with the aging structure, parts of which are nearly a century old.
“My concern is more about the overall community sentiment; it seems they continue to echo themselves that they don’t want it to be an eyesore, and they would prefer that it be razed,” said board member Emilie Trudell.
She did thank Revello for coming.
And Superintendent Dean Hess said the district decided to pursue a new building after investigating the cost of bringing WMS up to code, which proved prohibitive. The figure was more than $20 million four or five years ago, he said.
“If that building wasn’t in significant disarray, we wouldn’t be building a new building,” Hess said.
Peters Concrete submitted the low bid of $458,000 to tear down the old school and prepare the empty site for future development. The original estimate, which was included in the November 2022 referendum that enabled a new school, was about $707,00 for the demolition and $343,000 for an expected asbestos abatement project.
One piece of the old school is expected to have a place of honor in the new Oconto Falls Middle School, which is nearing completion across County Road I from the high school.
Brent Warren of Nexus Solutions, the consulting and engineering firm that is overseeing construction, told the board that they came up with an idea to cut out the “OF” logo from the center of the small second-story gymnasium, which was opened in January 1928 and remains the oldest section of the aging school.
“We would turn that into like a plaque or herald kind of thing to hang on the wall of the new building,” he said. The board approved a $4,573 change order to pay for the work.
Warren cautioned that the old gym floor might not hold up under surgery.
“It’s 100 years old,” he said. “It might fall apart. It might not work, but we’re going to give it a shot.”
Contract approved for middle school demolition
