"old school"

The McClellan Park School, where my young son, Matt, first learned to ‘salute the flag’ and where he recited his first ‘pledge of allegiance’, may soon be gone. The school's landmark building recently celebrated it’s one hundredth birthday.

The McClellan sisters, Katherine (a purported photographer) and her sister “Miss Daisy” built the vernacular-style structure as a community clubhouse in 1916.  By 1932, the so-called “tea house” had been turned into a small, private “primary“ school. 

Today, abandoned and boarded-up, the former school house, on a nearly one acre site, has been sitting on the real estate market for several years now as a prime parcel for future development. Most likely, the neglected building will be sitting awhile longer, with one unforeseeable problem - the craftsman built, wood-framed structure was supposedly constructed atop a historically significant, Native American 'midden' and early area, Pre-Columbian shell mound.

Kindergarten graduation (courtesy of Sarasota County Historical Archives)

My son Matt's, school photo while attending in the 3rd grade (1986)

 

Update - April 2021 (demolition)