Liberty-Eylau Primary School is demolished

Lisa Greene, a former student of Liberty-Eylau Primary School, holds a brick from the recently demolished school. Greene said materials used to build the school came from the area, such as the brick, which came from Atlanta, Texas. Greene's uncle, Dan Ryan, helped to transport the original materials for construction. Greene plans to use the brick in the construction of a fire pit. Rocks from the school are free for the public to take until Sunday.
Lisa Greene, a former student of Liberty-Eylau Primary School, holds a brick from the recently demolished school. Greene said materials used to build the school came from the area, such as the brick, which came from Atlanta, Texas. Greene's uncle, Dan Ryan, helped to transport the original materials for construction. Greene plans to use the brick in the construction of a fire pit. Rocks from the school are free for the public to take until Sunday.

A historic landmark disappeared from the Texarkana landscape in 2017, torn down to make way for progress at a local school district.

Liberty-Eylau Primary School, also known as the Rock School, was demolished in July. A new elementary building is being built where the 70-year-old icon once stood.

Built in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project, the structure once served as the Eylau schoolhouse, as represented by the plaque in the facade above the front door. The plaque will be placed on the new building, which is scheduled to open in August 2018 and will include a facade made of rocks from the original building.

Community members had long fought to keep the school from being torn down, but in May 2016, voters approved $20.9 million in bonds for district improvements, including the new state-of-the-art elementary building. The building also will hold a gym, music and computer rooms and a special education suite.

A week after the building was torn down, the Gazette spoke with those who had taught at and attended the Rock School.

Jami Blain, who taught there last year and cheered for the elementary students in the old cafeteria during her high school years, said her memories were not destroyed with the demolition of the building.

"They tore down a building that they're going to rebuild and honor the community with the new design," she said. "When we build it back, it will still be the Rock School because the front is going to be the rock."

Karen Tipton attended first through eighth grades at the Rock School and began her teaching career there in 1974.

She said she would take her classes to the rock stage behind the school for plays and picnics.

Her children and grandchildren have all attended class there, and she said she held her memories of the school close but realized it was time let go of the old and bring in the new.

"If we had had unlimited funds, it would have been awesome to have kept it," she said. "Realistically, that just wasn't a possibility. You want your kids and grandkids to be up with everybody else, and that just couldn't be there."

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