Historic school to be razed for youth
This old school building on Sixth Street in Rocky Top, which once served black children, will be torn down soon to make way for more outdoor play space for the Boys and Girls Club of Lake City, which operates a facility on this site for middle school students. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Built in 1957 as an elementary school for Black children in Lake City, then later converted to use for kindergarten kids, the one-story brick building has deteriorated to the point where “it has become a bit of a safety hazard,” said Bart McFadden, president and chief-executive officer of the Knoxville-based Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley.
The Boys and Girls Club of Lake City had used the old school as its office space for several years, but the building has been vacant for a while, club officials said.
It’s on the same site as the building that previously housed the Head Start operation for pre-school children in Lake City/Rocky Top, on property that previously was owned by the Anderson County Board of Education.
The Boys and Girls Club acquired the property and began using the former Head Start building, on the west end of the site, to serve middle-school kids with an after-school program in March 2024.
McFadden said the old brick school building would be removed to “create some more outside space” for the middle-school kids attending the Boys and Girls Club.
“In time, we may add some more capacity to the inside space on the site to serve more teens,” he said.
Although the Boys and Girls Club did not need the City Council’s approval to demolish the old school building, City Manager Mike Ellis suggested that the council pass a resolution in favor of the removal just for the record.
The council approved the resolution on a 4-0 vote, with Councilman Mack Bunch not present.
