Weathersfield Board of Education likes idea for gazebo on Route 46

The superintendent wants the beautification group to consult with an architect.

By MARY SMITH

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

MINERAL RIDGE — The Mineral Ridge Beautification Committee has had an enthusiastic response from the Weathersfield Board of Education to building a gazebo next to what is now the focal point on Main Street, the aging middle school.

June Lucas, former 67th District state representative and a member of the Mineral Ridge Beautification Committee, which formed last May, came to the school board with the idea. Other members joining her were Linda Ference, Jim Pirko, Sue Cleland, Marcie Buchanan and Chuck Pierce.

There are 15 to 20 people who attend meetings of the beautification committee at 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of every month at the Mineral Ridge Fire Station.

Schools Superintendent Michael Hanshaw told the group that the district is in the very early stages of review with the Ohio School Facilities Commission, which is doing studies now on what the district’s needs are. The district has already hired an architect, MS Consultants in Youngstown.

Hanshaw suggested that, when the district gets final word back from the state, someone from the committee could meet with an architect to see how the gazebo idea could be incorporated into the site.

“We always preach that the schools are the heart of the community, and they are,” Hanshaw said.

Lucas said the beautification committee wants to improve the appearance of Main Street (state Route 46), adding the focal points of the street are the middle school and the local churches.

She said the committee wants to have a gazebo next to the school, placed next to an historic bell on a concrete pedestal centered in front of the building, with sidewalks going up to it on either side.

The bell came from the original one-room school building that was built in the township in the 1800s.

“Steps leading up to the bell will make a wonderful focal point,” Lucas said.

The middle school is a strong contender on the district’s wish list for replacement because of its age and high maintenance costs. Lucas said if it is razed, the bricks from the school could be recycled to be used in the project to build pathways to the gazebo.

The middle school was built in 1926 and started as a high school. It was added onto with the middle part of the building in 1938, and the back half was added in 1959.

When the new high school on Seaborn Street was completed in 1976, the middle school was changed to educate students in fifth through eighth grades, the high school had ninth through 12th-graders. Seaborn Elementary housed kindergarten through fourth-graders.

Lucas explained that a gazebo would have many possible uses, including community band concerts featuring high school bands; or locations for brides and grooms to be photographed; or a New Year’s Eve “First Night” celebration.

While she acknowledged the committee has no money for a gazebo right now, it would “raise the money for a nice one.”

Two projects of the committee this year were to place eight Ridge Ram banners along Main Street, which will go back up later this year; and placement of signs on either end of Route 46 to let motorists know they were entering Mineral Ridge. (The team mascot is a ram).