In mid-February, demolition began on Mount Slaven School - a mainstay in some shape or form at the corner of Mary Street and Westmount Drive since the 1890s.
This week, following some delays due to the pandemic, work is finally concluding on the site as piles of concrete and bricks are being sifted through a rock crusher to make crushed gravel that is being trucked away.
Crews from The Cannington Group systematically dismanted the structure, starting with the old kindergarten room that looked out onto the small side yard on Mary Street.
They carefully took the building down and separated out, in the process, steel, glass and other components. It was painstaking work.
In behind the fences that encircle the long-neglected property, workers toiled from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. most weekdays for several weeks to raze the structure that had become an eyesore in recent years.
The trees on the property were not touched. Today, the site resembles a fresh patch of land.
The future of the property remains unclear.
The City of Orillia purchased the 2.86-acre former school property from the Simcoe County District School Board in 2009 for $626,000.
It was part of a larger deal that saw the city spend $2,221,493 to purchase four school properties, including Mount Slaven, that the school board had deemed surplus.
The city took possession of Mount Slaven in 2011 - and it has sat empty ever since.
OrilliaMatters has learned the property is now owned by Better Life Development from the GTA; the company is behind ambitious plans to build long-term care homes in Burlington.
However, Sam Badawi, the company’s operating officer, said there are no definitive plans for the Westmount Drive property.
“We decided to proceed with the demolition now given the vacant building was a safety concern,” Badawi said in a brief email.
“There is no project planned for the site at this time.”
The long-vacant building has become a point of contention in the neighbourhood. For many months after the city’s purchase of the property, the grounds where school kids once played were dug up with haphazard mounds of soil and debris littering the grounds like an abandoned archeological dig.
People dumped garbage on the property and seemed to revel in breaking the few windows that remained.
Concerns grew last year when the empty old building was set on fire - twice.
The second fire on Oct. 25 caused “significant” damage to the building.
“A portion of the building has significant damage and an even bigger portion of the building has just smoke damage,” said Fire Chief Brent Thomas.
That was the final straw that prompted the owners to demolish the building.
HISTORY
The original one-room Mount Slaven School was built in 1890 on the site of the present school parking lot on Mary Street. An upper storey was added in 1900. In 1950, the building was replaced with the new Mount Slaven School, consisting of seven classrooms, a gymnasium/auditorium, and washrooms.
The first addition, the north extension consisting of four classrooms on two levels, was completed in 1955. The east wing along Mary Street, consisting of four classrooms, a kindergarten room and washrooms, was constructed in 1959.
