Designation may impact future upgrades
By Erik Buchinger
The Wisconsin Historical Society Preservation Committee voted to recommend Rexford-Longfellow Elementary School, formerly the Clintonville High School building, be added to the State Register of Historic Places.
Clintonville resident Mary-Beth Kuester and her sister Kay Kuester Doran nominated the school for the designation.
“I applied for the historical designation of the old 1918 building, and the state committee decided they wanted to include the whole complex,” Kuester said during a Monday, June 25 Clintonville School Board meeting. “What they said was it’s a perfect example of the evolution of educational facilities with the evolution of education.”
Kuester said the committee was impressed with where the school building is located.
“The thing that impressed them the most was the location of the school that it’s right in the downtown,” Kuester said. “They loved the fact that it was such a central part of the downtown.”
Superintendent David Dyb said he and the district’s director of buildings and grounds, Steve Reinke, have been in contact with the preservation committee to discuss what this means for the future of Rexford-Longfellow.
“We do need to submit forms to them if we do anything to the building beyond normal maintenance,” Dyb said. “If we’re replacing windows or doors or knocking down walls, it does need to be approved by a permit. We did let them know we are doing some things this summer involving the technology upgrade with the wiring and some potential cameras. Steve is replacing two exterior doors, and there was no issue with that, but we do need to be mindful of that. Just a few more hoops to jump through is all.”
In April 2017, school district voters rejected a $24.9 million referendum that would have included demolishing the Rexford-Longfellow Elementary building.
When Kuester originally brought up the possibility of the building’s historic designation during a school board meeting last September, board member Jim Schultz raised concerns over the idea.
“A cynical person could say that you are afraid the vote might turn out somewhat different,” Schultz said to Kuester in September. “We have a democratic way of approving referendums. You’re concerned as a voter, but you as an autocratic one-person can completely change the possibilities for a new elementary school or remodel of the elementary school, and you won’t be able to let the voters decide.
“I really feel that you are going to be the one-person voter who is going to decide the future of that building instead of the community itself, and I really am not happy about that.”
Schultz was absent from the June 25 meeting.
Kuester said she and the rest of the Clintonville High School Class of 1956, the last class to graduate high school from that building, plan to have a 100-year anniversary celebration of the school during homecoming this fall. She said the community would be welcome to attend.
“I really did not realize this was such a distinguished building until Mark Thomas, who is a couple of classes behind me, said that high school was a very important building and way ahead of its time,” Kuester said. “That’s what really got me started to look into it.”
The 1918 portion was built at a cost of $200,000 and served as the high school until 1956.
Kuester said she is preparing to begin the national designation of the building as well.