Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Cranberry dismantles the decaying 162-year-old school house on Mars-Criders Road.
On a cold snowy Monday, Cranberry fulfilled its promise to demolish the 162-year-old Johnston School House. The township had been planning to dismantle the one-room building, which has fallen into disrepair, since December unless a better solution was found. After a detailed engineering study, as well as discussions with residents and members of the Cranberry Historical Society, the township found restoring the schoolhouse was not a practical option, officials said. Located on Mars-Criders Road behind the Target, the Johnston School House has serious structural issues, including sinking floors. Cranberry considered it a safety hazard. Some of the school’s brickwork will be retrieved for use in the township's new Kids Castle playground to…
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Despite efforts to the save the building, the cost to restore the decaying school house are deemed impractical.
Although they gave it their best shot, Roy Wagner said members of the Cranberry Historical Society were unable to save the decaying 162-year-old Johnston School House in Cranberry from the wrecking ball. “We don’t want to see the building go down, but we can’t take it on,” he said. Cranberry originally planned to demolish the one-room building, which has fallen into disrepair, in December unless a better solution was found. After a detailed engineering study, as well as discussions with residents and members of the historical society, the township found restoring the schoolhouse was not a practical option, officials said. Located on Mars-Criders Road behind the Target, the Johnston School House has serious structural issues, including …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
With the one-room school house falling into disrepair, township officials are considering demolishing the building—unless a better solution is found.
Cranberry Township Historical Society President and local history buff Roy Wagner said hearts are breaking over the one-room Johnston School House on Mars-Criders Road. “When you look at it, it’s in so bad of shape that it will be a monumental task financially even just to stabilize it,” he said. “Moving it is out of the question.” Built in 1851, the red brick building, one of six original schoolhouses in the township, has fallen in to disrepair and has serious structural issues. Wagner said many of the shingles have been blown off the roof. The floor also is sinking in several locations. Although the developers behind the Cranberry Commons shopping center, which is located adjacent to the school’s property, did some exterior work to …
Roy Wagner
10:59 pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Having watched the major part of the demolition on Monday morning, and seeing how easily the building fell apart, it is hard to imagine that the building could have survived an attempt to move it. Each section of brick wall that fell, fell in a thick cloud of mortar dust, as if only gravity had been holding everything together all these years. more ›