Looking back at beloved North Lincoln School in Alliance

• North Lincoln Elementary School in Alliance opened in 1914. It is expected to be demolished soon.
• The school housed kindergarten through fifth grade until 2003. The Alliance Career Center and the Robert T. White School of Practicing Nursing also called it home.
• A Ken State University architecture class is measuring, sketching and preparing architectural designs of the school for historical records.

ALLIANCE − North Lincoln School lies abandoned, its glory days long gone as the City of Alliance prepares to demolish the World War I-era schoolhouse.

The city possibly will begin clearing the site at 530 N. Lincoln Ave. in late April. The demolition work has gone out for bid.

North Lincoln opened in 1914 and served mostly as a neighborhood school. It expanded in the 1950s, welcoming young minds in kindergarten through fifth grade to its 16 classrooms.

After it closed in 2003, Alliance Career Center and the Robert T. White School of Practical Nursing gave it new purpose, before it has spent its final years a storage facility for Alliance City School District.

Teachers, students remember an old friend

North Lincoln will be survived by generations of former students and teachers, who celebrate a school that is the last of its kind in Alliance.

"I made some of my best friends for life there," said Missy Ruggles, an adjunct professor at University of Mount Union who taught third grade for 10 years at North Lincoln. "It was a wonderful place to work. It was just like a family."

Former student Christina (Worley) Durenda attended classes there in the early 1990s, along with her sisters and brother. "I can still remember the creaky floors and wooden doors," the 37-year-old said. "We had an awesome playground too."

She said one room in particular stands out.

"I think personally the best room in the school was the kindergarten room," Durenda said. "This room had all kinds of toys. The big wooden cubbies and bathrooms for the girls and boys on each side of the room just seemed so neat to me."

Tim Smail, 41, and his brothers grew up across the street from the school. Their mother helped with school activities. Now living in Alabama, Smail said he remembers running home for lunch, playing at recess and going on field trips.

"They were some of the most fun years of my life," Smail said. "I loved going to North Lincoln."

Smail's classmate Valerie Salter, 40, remembered participating in the annual Field Day activities and learning about Johnny Appleseed there. She said she later returned to the school to take medical classes in 2005.

"I'm still friends with some of the (former) teachers," said Salter, who now works for the school district as an in-school suspension moderator. "It will be pretty sad to see it go. That's one of our last original schools in town."

The legacy of North Lincoln will live on

North Lincoln also will be survived by a class of architecture students from Kent State University, who have been measuring, sketching and preparing architectural designs for historical purposes. Forty students are involved.

Dalton Rininger Kline, a member of the Alliance Area Preservation Society board and an adjunct professor at Kent State, has spearheaded the project. He said his students will present the school district with a comprehensive record when they're finished.

"We're thankful for the school district letting us (do this)," he said.

Superintendent Rob Gress empathized with those who have cherished memories of their time at North Lincoln.

"We recognize that for many people, it's sad to see historical buildings like this come to the end of their life span, so we are dedicated to keeping its legacy and memory alive," Gress vowed.

Rininger Kline, an advocate for preservation, said he wishes North Lincoln could have survived. Efforts to save the old school flatlined.

"Preservation efforts are only as valuable as the community wants them to be," Rininger Kline said. "It never works if we have to force people to care about their heritage. We tried to save it. We found a lack of substantial interest."

For those fond of North Lincoln, it'll be a sad day when it comes down.

"It'll bring a tear to my eyes," Smail said, but, "there's always hope until the wrecking ball shows up."