Will a historical designation for school in North Canton stop demolition?

NORTH CANTON – Jill Kemp recalls sitting in the Portage Street Elementary cafeteria as a fifth grader when a teacher dashed in to notify everyone that then-President John F. Kennedy had been shot.

"We were watching a movie and she came across the catwalk," Kemp recalls. 

She also remembers the fun of crossing that indoor catwalk that linked the classroom hallway to the lower-level cafeteria, which doubled as a gymnasium and auditorium. Perhaps best, she remembers the teachers and staff who filled Portage Street Elementary with friendly smiles and hugs.

Kemp, a 1970 Hoover High School graduate who now lives in Medina County, is leading an effort to designate her former elementary school — now the Mary L. Evans Early Childhood Center — as a historical site on the National Register of Historic Places. 

"The building is beautiful," said Kemp, whose mother and grandfather also attended classes on the school site. "It’s still in phenomenal shape."

She hopes the historical designation, which is being recommended by the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board, will help save the century-old school at the corner of Portage and Ream streets NW from being demolished.

The North Canton City School District plans to tear down the building in summer 2023 as part of a $58 million project to consolidate five buildings into two schools.

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As part of the project, the existing childhood center, located on the southeastern corner of the site, will be demolished and a primary school for students in preschool through second grade will be constructed on the northeast corner of the 9.6-acre property. Construction of the 58,180-square-foot primary school at 200 Charlotte Ave. NW is underway and the school is expected to open in fall 2023.

The area where the existing school is located is slated to become a parking lot, drainage area and green space.

How is Portage Street Elementary historically significant?

Kemp began seeking the historic designation for Portage Street Elementary last fall. She believes Portage Street Elementary meets the National Register’s criteria of being a property that is "associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history."

She believes the history and expansion of the school mirror the history and expansion of the community that began as New Berlin and became the city of North Canton. 

The school at the corner of Portage and Ream educated nearly every child in the community from 1835 when the first log structure was built to 1929 when the district built its second school building, North Canton High School on Charlotte Street, according to Kemp's research.

Portage Street Elementary remained the district’s only elementary school until 1956 when Orchard Hill Elementary was constructed.

The oldest part of the school is now used largely for storage, while preschool classes for the Mary L. Evans Early Childhood Center are primarily held in the section built in 1959 known then as the Annex. The North Canton Heritage Society is located in the oldest part of the building, which is the foundation that remains from the building constructed in 1888.

Except for the building additions, Kemp said the school largely maintains the same look and layout as it did 100 years ago. The exterior still maintains the characteristics of the Jacobethan architectural style, including features such as Flemish bond brickwork, projecting bays, large window bays with rectangular multipane window sashes and smooth terra cotta features.

Much of the original interior has been maintained including woodwork, wood flooring, ventilation grates, stairways and room layout. Original lockers still line the hallways. 

"In North Canton, there isn’t much left of the older buildings," said Kemp, as she lamented the loss of the Main Street buildings from her childhood. "There’s so much history there and it’s gone."

She hopes her research and the historical designation will encourage the North Canton school board to save the elementary school and find a new use for it, such as a community building or senior center.

"We want to convince the school board to not tear it down," Kemp said. "It is in such good shape."

The 17-member Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board recommended on June 17 that Portage Street Elementary be added to the National Register of Historic Places. 

Abby Marshall, survey and National Register manager for the State Historic Preservation Office, said the preservation office will give the application a final review before it is sent to the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., for federal evaluation.

The National Park Service then has up to 45 days to review the nomination and to determine whether it is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, Marshall said.

If the Park Service determines Portage Street Elementary to be eligible, it will be added to the list of properties deemed worthy of preservation on the National Register of Historic Places. Stark County has 90 properties already on the list, including two in North Canton (Hoover Co. Historic District and Hoover Farm).

Would National Register of Historic Places designation stop demolition?

Adding a property to the National Register still doesn’t stop a property owner from making changes, including demolition, to the listed property, Marshall said. 

In a letter to North Canton school officials, Marshall described the National Register as a planning tool that helps identify properties that are considered to be worthy of historic preservation.

"Aside from eligibility from tax credits, listing in the National Register of Historic Places is honorary and is meant to document and acknowledge the significant history of properties associated with our past," Marshall wrote. "… In this case, the nomination for the Portage Street Elementary School focuses on the importance that the school had to the development of North Canton and its association with the Hoover Co." 

North Canton Superintendent Jeff Wendorf was unaware of the group's efforts to designate the school as a historical site until he received notice that the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board would be voting on the application. He and school board President Andrea Ziarko submitted a joint letter to the advisory board to oppose the nomination.

Wendorf said the designation, if approved, would not change the district’s plans for the site and would not stop the demolition of the building in summer 2023. He said the district plans to keep the promises it made to the community when voters approved a 36-year, $58.5 million bond issue to pay for the two new schools and improvements to the football stadium and the construction of a new bus garage. 

"We went through a thorough planning process … and it has been in the plans (for the school building) to be demolished since we started the whole process," Wendorf said. 

He said the district needs the roughly 1-acre space now occupied by the school for parking, underground drainage retention and green space.

Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @kweirREP