Clark Elementary hits the auction block Sept. 30

The Clark Elementary School building and property will hit the auction block in an absolute auction on Monday, Sept. 30, beginning at 4 p.m.

While rumors run rampant about what might eventually become of the school property, those who attended and had children and grandchildren who attended have used this time to share memories and recall their days as youth.

For many area members, the school will always hold a special place in their heart.

Dale Lahm, who lives very close to the school, moved to the area as a 10-year-old, and Clark Elementary and High School became a big part of his life. He began there in third grade and eventually graduated high school there in 1955, the penultimate class to ever graduate from Clark.

“Education here at Clark was right at the top,” Lahm said. “Our last principal there as a high school was a fresh-faced kid right out of college named Bill Pim, whose son now coaches baseball at West Holmes High School."

Lahm toured the school and pointed out the many changes that have taken place since his day of making Clark Elementary his stomping grounds.

While all of the classrooms have changed over the past half-century, one of the things that stayed the same was the immaculate brick work, which created a sturdy foundation.

“This school was built in a swamp, and they drove wooden piling down in for a foundation,” Lahm said. “For 80-some years this school building has stood strong, and there isn’t any cracking at all in the brick work. It is in incredible shape for a building that old.”

How important was Clark Elementary to Lahm? He met his wife Catherine there in elementary school, and the two became high school sweethearts.

“She didn’t want anything to do with me early on, but fortunately it all changed in high school,” Lahm said.

The elementary school and high school shared the building back in a day when a class of 10 students was considered large. Though now equipped with natural gas, Lahm said the school was a coal-burning school when he attended.

Lahm pointed out where the old projection room was in the gymnasium, where they showed old reel-to-reel films. The gym still has the old seats, although Lahm said the windows were at one time a great deal larger until they were blocked down to conserve heat. When the gymnasium’s wooden floor was badly warped during the flood of 1969, it was rebuilt with a cement foundation and tile.

“This place was great. You couldn’t beat it,” Lahm said. “Our teachers were fantastic, and I felt like we were about as prepared as you could be to go on to college. Our quality of education was great, and I think we had a really good reputation.”

Ruth Ann Brenly has lived right across state Route 83 from the school for a long time. For 37 years her husband Carl Brenly, who passed away 11 years ago, was the custodian at Clark Elementary. They built their home in 1947, and Clark Elementary was near and dear to their hearts ever since.

Brenly said when the school flooded in 1969, her husband had to clean up his home and the school as well. His time there with the children and staff were precious times, and she said through her husband she felt like a part of the school.

“Carl always shared a whole lot of stories from his days as a custodian,” Brenly said. “This has been a really strange year here with no kids at the school for the first time ever. It is kind of eerie. We were so used to the sights and sounds of the kids running and playing and seeing them come and go. The building itself really hasn’t changed that much throughout time, until this year when it went silent for the first and final time."

Tim Miller of Kaufman Realty & Auction is heading up the sale. He said it will be interesting to see what kind of interest the property draws and what the next phase of the building’s life might be.

All of the inside contents will be sold first at 4 p.m. including desks, chairs, kitchen equipment and more. The building will sell at 6 p.m.

“Structurally this place is extremely sound,” Miller said of the building. “It’s like a bomb shelter. There is a lot of history here, and it should be interesting to see what takes place from here on out. The opportunities here are endless. Someone could use it for offices, as a private school, a restaurant, an Airbnb, a day-care center. If someone can envision it, they can make something really great here. It’s great land, and there is already a playground that will stay as part of the property auction.”

Miller said they have no idea what to expect because the sale of an old school building doesn’t take place every day.

“I think you’ll see a lot of very curious people here to see what happens,” Miller said.

For West Holmes Superintendent Bill Sterling, the hope of the district is that whomever purchases the school will put it to good use.

“We are hopeful that someone buys the building and puts it to good use in a way that is positive for the community,” Sterling said. “We know we can’t control that, but we sure are hopeful that it is going to happen. We understand that there are a lot of wonderful memories tied up with that school.”

Gary Wagers has gone to great lengths to preserve as much of the historical items as possible from the school.

“We found homes for the historical items and all of the library books and as much of the furniture as we could,” Sterling said.

The sale of the property will go directly into the West Holmes School District general fund.