August 4, 2015: Detailed view of the brickwork at the southeast corner of the St. Ansgar Elementary building. (Photo also used in May 4 blog post.)
The St. Ansgar school district voted to sell its former elementary building to a local development group that plans to have it torn down, the Mitchell County Press-News reports (via the Mason City Globe Gazette). The building was the high school in town for much of the 20th century.
There was a proposal to save the building, but the city would have needed to take interim possession and that would have cost $100,000 for insurance alone, the article says. A community group then would have had to raise $3-5 million.
UPDATE: THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. The board changed its mind.