A group of volunteers in the Saratoga County village of Corinth is looking save an historic school building on Main Street. WAMC’s Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports the advocates are holding an informational meeting this weekend.
If you’re driving up through Corinth, you may catch a glimpse of a unique brown-and-white brick building on Main Street.
The future of the 109-year-old Main Street School will be discussed this weekend. The meeting is being organized by a committee established a year ago to study the structure’s history and possible re-use.
Matt Rogers serves as chair of the committee that was set up by the local school district’s board of education.
“If we lost the building, I feel, it puts a big gap in the streetscape of Main Street. We’re historically a mixed-use community, and we have a fantastic bakery just up the street from that, and repurposing this for different types of uses would bode well for this part of the community,” said Rogers.
The building has been vacant for more than a decade. But the group still thinks it has a bright future.
“This is a building that was well built, well designed, seems to be still in fairly good condition, and is by no means at the end of its useful lifespan,” said Steven Engelhart.
Volunteer Steven Engelhart is a historic preservationist and also serves as Executive Director of Adirondack Architectural Heritage.
Engelhart says the old school building is similar to another in the community that appears have been built at the same time.
He said that one of the things that any community must do when thinking about its future is take a look around and “identify and discover what its assets are.”
For example, are there natural features, like a waterfront or trails, worth utilizing? What are the characteristics of neighborhoods? Is there a potential in a downtown?
Engelhart says the architecture of Corinth is worth preserving.
“You know, Corinth is a community that has, I think, quite a few very beautiful and interesting buildings. And any time you lose a building like this, which is quite distinctive, it takes something away from the overall community,” said Engelhart.
Celia Lockhart, Corinth School Board of Education Vice-President and a committee volunteer, said in an email that she is looking forward to seeing “key stakeholders, and town, village, and school board members present at the meeting.”
Matt Rogers says the meeting will not just be a status update.
“We still see this as an initial step to move forward with securing funds and conducting a formal evaluation of the building itself,” said Rogers.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at the high school auditorium on Oak Street.
