An aging portion of a former elementary school building in South Windham that has been vacant for several years will be demolished later this month.

Starting Monday, Dec. 28, crews from Emerson Excavating of Windham will knock down the wooden section of the 8,500-square-foot John Andrew School on High Street, which was built in 1926. The 1950s portion of the building will be retained and continue to be used for storage of school materials.

In November, the Regional School Unit 14 Board of Directors chose Emerson Excavating as the contractor for the project for a cost of $51,977, which was the lowest bid. Four other bids were submitted.

RSU 14’s facilities director, Bill Hansen, said the building has been deemed structurally unsound and no longer serves the needs of the district.

With permission from the school district, members of the Windham Historical Society late last month recorded the building by drawing the floor plan, and salvaged some items, such as wainscoting, wooden doors, metal door knobs and hooks, flooring and blackboards from the building to reuse in some of the town’s historic buildings that will be relocated to the Village Green History Center, which is being created behind the society headquarters on Windham Center Road.

Windham Historical Society member Jim Hanscom helps remove wainscoting from the old school to be reused in future buildings in a Village Green History Center being created by the society.


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