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  • Midland Mayor Craig Alexander stands in front of the former Midland School building. The town is hoping to demolish the school, which closed in the mid-1970s. The town has applied for a Community Development Block grant to tear it down, but the building’s historic classification might prevent attempts to raze it. Steve Bittner/Times-News

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June 7, 2011

Town of Midland seeking demolition of old school building

Michael A. Sawyers Cumberland Times-News

— MIDLAND — Midland Mayor Craig Alexander says it is time for the school he attended through sixth grade to be torn down. The town’s four council members agree, voting affirmatively on the matter at the May meeting.

There has been no reading, writing or ’rithmetic at 15010 Paradise St. since Georges Creek Elementary School opened down the road in Lonaconing in the mid-1970s.

It shows.

“The windows are all broken out and pigeons and their crap are everywhere. Kids break into it,” Alexander said Tuesday. “We have applied for a (Community Development Block) grant of $150,000 to tear it down and use the site for something else.”

Alexander said he was on the Town Council when Allegany County gave Midland the school building. “I didn’t want to accept it,” he said. “But now we have it.”

A recent county estimate places demolition at $145,000, according to Alexander. “In 2005 the county did a study showing it would cost $1.5 million to renovate the (two-story) building. That’s out of the question for a town the size of Midland.”

Alexander said even if the town gets the grant, he knows demolition will have to be approved by the Maryland Historical Trust.

“If they say we can’t tear it down because it’s historic and don’t give us the money to rehab it then that’s obstructionism,” the mayor said, looking ahead.

A spokesman for the trust pointed out Tuesday that a number of old schools in Allegany County are already on the inventory of historic places, including:

• Barton School

• Beechwood Street School, Lonaconing

• Corriganville School

• Detmold School, Lonaconing

• Dutch Hollow School, Mount Savage

• Hoffman Hollow School, Vale Summit

• Little Orleans School

• Midlothian School

• Old Bowery School, Frostburg

• Porter Settlement School, Eckhart

• Rawlings School

• Dayton School, McCoole

• Union Grove School, Mason Road.

Alexander said if the building is razed that the site would be planted to grass and can be used for outdoor recreation. Also a possibility is a new building that could be used for community activities such as meetings.

“It would be nice to have a reading/computer room for our residents. Some of our students and seniors don’t have computers and have a difficult time getting to the libraries in Frostburg and Lonaconing.

“We’ll either get the grant and demolish it or it will fall down on its own, brick by brick, over the next 20 to 25 years,” Alexander said.

The Midland School was built in 1899. In recent years, it has been used by the town for storage and at one time housed the Thrasher carriage collection.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.

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