Sept. 23, 2011: The abandoned Geneseo Township school building east of Buckingham, like many pre-WWII schools in Iowa, had an addition built later. The addition area was used for apartments for a time.
In my travels across Iowa, I have seen many abandoned schools. However, I haven’t seen or photographed as many as the 200-plus documented by a Cedar Falls couple profiled in the Waterloo Courier. The article says a book is coming, including information about old team names, which is bound to be interesting. (They certainly beat me to the punch on this.) The article also profiles one of Tama County’s abandoned schools, Geneseo in the northeast corner, which hasn’t been a school for 30 years.
Gov. Branstad made a reference to old schools in his State of the State address, supporting a tax credit for refurbishing them. I quote from the speech:
Yet, some of the schools and public buildings which used to be the source of that pride are now empty shells dotting the landscapes of our communities. Once filled with the hustle and bustle of schoolchildren and their teachers, these are more than just abandoned buildings. They hold a part of our childhood. They hold a part of us.
Instead of letting these treasures stand empty, let’s turn them into the economic centers of our communities. Let’s once again make them part of our daily lives. We will submit legislation to provide tax incentives to repurpose abandoned schools and public buildings.
Repurposing abandoned buildings is easier said than done, and a tax credit isn’t a cure-all. There are “three A’s” that are the biggest obstacles to using old schools:
- Asbestos: School buildings are chock-full of it. Removal is very very expensive; the Courier article notes it would cost $130,000 at Geneseo alone. Asbestos abatement is a huge part of why old schools are left to rot.
- Adaptability: A school is laid out for the purpose of being a school. Making it be something else can be a tall order. Everything from the number of bathrooms to identical room layouts dictate the difficulty of converting a school to something else.
- Americans With Disabilities Act: The ADA has a limited exemption regarding elevators, but it limits what can be done with the building. Ground-level entrances would be one example of what a repurposed building would need and schools didn’t always have.
Turning old schools into buildings a community can once again be proud of is a noble thought. Sadly, many of them are simply too far gone.