Spring City's Castle

      Many older people living in the twin boroughs remember the
New Street school that looked just like a castle.  To say the least it was a beautiful piece of architecture thatheld many fond memories for those who had attended it.

     My parents and I moved to Spring City in the summer of 1958 and I attended the New Street Junior High in the fall.  It was built in 1928 as the new high school in Spring City, replacing the original high school on Church Street.  Just 28 years
after it was built it had become part of the Spring-Ford jointure and was being
used as a junior high.

     In fact the crowded conditions required that classes to be scheduled in half day sessions. When I found out that I was attending classes only in the morning,  I suddenly thought much differently about moving to Spring City.  I remember
thinking that walking home at noon and not having to return was a good thing.
Perhaps my parents had actually made a good decision to move to Spring City.

      The school rivalry between Spring City and Royersford had ended in 1955 with the creation of the new Spring-Ford school system.  I did not know when I moved to town that a new high school was being built on Lewis road in Royersford.   The following year, in the fall of 1959, I would be going to that school.  The school was brand new and now it too has been replaced by a new school accross the street.  The building has been enlarged a couple of times, completely renovated, and now serves as the ninth grade center.    

       The New Street school did not receive such considerations.  It had been abandoned. It was literally lost in the wave of expansion.  It is hard to go back and sort things out but it is obvious that the New Street school in the final
anaylsis was not considered as a valuable component to the school system and the property was sold.  The new owners decided to use the property for a senior citizen's housing development which was named Vincent Heights. 

      I do not know if any consideration was given to the idea of saving the building at this point but we all know that the final decision was to remove it.  I was living here in Spring City and do not recall any ground swell of public opinion to preserve this building. I looked through the newspaper archives and didn't find much dialog on the subject.

    A front page story appeared in the newspaper (July 28, 1982) showing officials at the ground breaking ceremony that was held the previous Saturday. They were posed holding a shovel with the school building in the backround.  One week later a picture in the paper shows the wrecking ball as it had completely knocked out the middle of the school. 

     Pictures that were taken of the demolition show the construction of this building was solid. Massive iron beams, brick and cinder block were all used in building this structure. 

      It was made to last much longer than 54 years.  As I look at these pictures I can see the piano, trophy cases, records and other school items that were plowed into the basement and covered over. I had heard stories about this but was always a bit skeptical until I saw the actual photos. 

     It would have been nice to have saved this building. When I drive by Vincent Heights I still see the brick castle school.  A view that might have been
saved for others.    A part of our heritage and bit of our past that we have buried forever.