Lost and Found

Lost

Abington’s Highland Elementary School epitomized twentieth-century school architecture in heavily suburbanized areas. Originally constructed in 1923, and enlarged by additions in 1950, 1953, and 1968, the Montgomery County school building was again expanded with the first of three portable class­rooms in 1991. The building and, especially, its alterations reflect the impact of suburban development on critical community resources. School districts across the country have been closing such neighborhood schools and replacing them with gargantuan consolidated regional facilities. Shortly after the Highland Elementary School was considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, the Abington School District ordered it demolished to make way for a new regional school.

Found

Beloved by generations of students, “The Castle on the Hill,” served as Hazleton High School from its opening in 1928 to 1993, when a consolidated school facility was built, and as a junior high school for five years, until closed by the Ha­zleton Area School District in 1998. The Luzerne County community’s school board intended to raze the picturesque, Gothic Revival-style building, which Preservation Pennsylvania declared endangered, but community support for its preservation prevailed, and the building was spared. Following renovations, The Castle will once again welcome students-perhaps as early as January 2006 – from kindergarten through eighth grade. While district leaders considered their options, volunteers (nicknamed the “the castle keepers”) maintained the building.