Bye Bye Alma Mater

Back when the pandemic first started, I was taking long walks for exercise and to get out of the house.  (I wrote about a number of those walks on the blog.)  However, once I began working in earnest on my garden, those walks stopped.  After working for as long as six hours in the garden, I did not have the time or the inclination to go walking.  

Now that the major work of the garden is completed, I decided on Saturday to walk to Berea High School, the school from which I graduated fifty years ago.  I wanted to take some photos of it because sometime this summer my old "alma mater" is going to be torn down.  Construction is nearly complete on a new building behind the old one.  Depending on the status of the pandemic, it will open its doors for the new school year in August.

A couple weeks ago the building was open to give the public one final look inside.  The number of people allowed in the building at one time was limited, and the visitors had to follow a strictly set route.  Face masks and social distancing were, of course, required.  I decided not to attend.  I preferred to remember the inside of the building from the tour that we had five years ago as a part of our previous class reunion.  But I did want to walk around the outside of the building by myself one last time and say good bye.

Berea High School was founded in 1882, but the building that we know opened in 1928.  It was quite an elegant work of architecture, and it was known as the "million dollar high school".  Here is a picture that I found on the internet of the building as it originally looked.

 

Over the years, several additions were built, and in the year that I entered Berea High as a sophomore, there was a brand new classroom wing across the front of the building.

I always disliked that new addition.  It hid the beautiful architecture of the original building, and the tower which used to stand over the main entrance stuck up like a sore thumb above the modern section.

On the front of the addition there is a sculpture known as the "Tree of Knowledge".  It was rather controversial at the time of construction because of its expense.  It was done by a noted local artist, Robert Fillous, and is considered an important piece of mid-twentieth century sculpture.

The sculpture is still generating controversy.  The school board is debating what to do with it.  Moving it to the façade of the new building will cost an exorbitant amount which the school district does not have... but to simply destroy a valuable piece of art is a dreadful option also.

Toward the bottom of the sculpture there are images representing different courses of study.  Notice how birds have built their nest behind the palette representing art.

Above the courses of study is a map of Berea with the Rocky River and the Metropark bisecting the city.

There are also images representing nearby landmarks such as Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the NASA Research Center.

Of the original building, only the west side is still visible.  You can appreciate the beauty of its decorative brickwork.  It reminds me a bit of the Moorish architecture of Spain.

I tried looking through some of the classroom windows, but either the blinds were drawn or the rooms were too dark.  I did manage to get a few pictures of the interior peering through windows or doors.  

Here is the cafeteria.  All of the school dances were also held there, including the senior prom.  That was long before it became "de rigueur" to spend big bucks for some fancy party venue for the prom. 

           The corridor between the cafeteria and the gymnasium and swimming pool areas.

A hallway in the old part of the building.  The red tiles are the original flooring from 1928.

How time has flown!  It seems like yesterday when I was walking these corridors, hurrying between classes!

The Berea School District includes not just Berea, but also the neighboring communities of Middleburg Heights and Brook Park and a small portion of Olmsted Falls where I live.  As the "baby boomer" generation reached their teens, it was necessary to build another high school for the district.  In 1962 Midpark High School was built to serve students in Middleburg Heights and Brook Park.  The two schools were bitter sports rivals.  In 2013 Midpark High School was closed due to declining enrollment, and Berea High School became the consolidated Berea-Midpark High School.

Behind the high school, on what used to be practice fields, the new Berea-Midpark High School is nearing completion.

But, frankly, the new building does not have the character that the 1928 high school had.

Hail to thee, Berea High!

All our trust in thee will lie.

True to thee we'll always be,

Steadfast through eternity!