Salvaging Creston history

In the 1970s, three young men graduated from the old Creston High School on Irving and Maple streets. Now, 50 years later, they’re working to bring pieces of that history back to the town.

“I found out four years ago that the rubble from the high school that said Creston, the limestone and other rubble was in a garage just north of St. John’s church,” 1976 graduate John Walters said. “The day after, I went over to check on it.”

Walters said the old school ranks right up there in terms of its beauty. Built for $270,000 in 1925, the building started hosting classes in 1926.

“In 1925, they estimated 15 months to build this big beautiful brick building, and they did it in 13,” he said. “And they didn’t have the kind of machinery we have today.”

The school hosted students from 1926 to 1989. It was finally torn down in 1996.

The building faced north with the picturesque main entrance on the west side of the building front. On the east end, mounted near the top of the building, was a slab of limestone engraved with “Creston.”

The piece was amongst the rubble saved in a garage for approximately two decades before it was rescued.

The late Ron Ray was the man to tell Walters about the rubble and eventually help him haul it to the historical village where some of it is still stored under the west barn.

There wasn’t much traction on the restoration until this year when Walters went to a Union County Historical Village Meeting to say it was time to get the project going.

“I told them it’s time to get this thing somewhere,” he said. “It was just sitting there. I was thinking of all the people who died in the last four years who didn’t get to see it.”

Right away, Walters had a couple ideas of where to put the sign from the old high school site to the new high school to the town entrance.

Finally, it was decided to put it at the old schoolhouse at the historical village in McKinley Park. Historical village board member Sharon Snodgrass suggested putting red brick around the limestone to make it look more like it did in its prime.

“I thought that was wonderful,” Walters said. “We couldn’t find enough brick from the old high school, so we bought new brick.”

Mike Seddon joined Walters in working to restore the limestone which was cracked in three pieces. Dan Adamson put his masonry work into the project for the bricks. The top is built out of concrete.

It took many hands to get the project into place as each piece weighs between 280 to 375 lbs. Helping get it into place were Craig Taylor, Mitch Sorenson, Dan Downing, Troy Foster and Chris Tibbals.

Cornerstone

Since finding the rubble, Walters has been looking for clear photos of the sign mounted on the building to no avail. The iconic main entrance dominates the photographic records of the school.

“I went back and looked at the old newspaper from the mid-20s to see if I could get a good photo, and then looked at when it was demolished in 1996,” Walters explained. “One photo had Dell Shimer, he was a custodian, standing in the rubble taking photos.”

Though Shimer didn’t have the photos anymore, he told Walters the old cornerstone was in weeds by the bus barn.

“The next morning, I was over there, and sure as heck, it looked like a rectangular tube of concrete up against the side of the bus barn,” he said. “I pried it away and saw engravings.”

Originally chiseled from Bedford limestone, the cornerstone held a time capsule from 1925. The capsule contained a war photo, copies of The Advertiser and other newspapers, a Union County directory, financial reports and many other items.

The cornerstone is also at the historical village now, about ready to be mounted. Weighing nearly a half ton, the men are looking for help in getting it into its proper base.

History

For Walters, this project was personal. “I went through all my schooling here,” he said. “My mom and dad, Helen and Willard, had at least one kid in the school for at least one semester from 1963 to 1980. I kind of wanted to do this partially in honor of my mom and dad.”

Walters, Seddon and Adamson hope people use homecoming as an opportunity to go see the sign at the historical village while they are back in town.

“Everyone who went to Creston High School who’s 50 or older would have spent at least a year in that old high school,” Walters said. “It was a beautiful high school.”