"The Art of Historic Preservation"
9th Annual Preservation Week 2007 Photo-Essay Competition
Second Place: Chris Brewer, 6th Grade, Fairview Middle School, Ashland
Title: Preservation of History In Westwood
In the Fairview School system we have three gyms: an old gym that was built during the Great Depression in 1938, a gym that we consider the new gym built in 1967, and a gym that was just built last year in 2006. Although all three gyms are important to our community, the old gym is very special. It was built at a point in history where there was a stock market crash, and unemployment was at an all-time high. Before the year 2006, the old gym was nasty and unbearable. But, in 2006, they remodeled the interior making it look much better. In the remolding process, they refinished the hardwood floors, took the boards off the windows, and put up decorative bars to keep the new windows safe from basketballs. They also put in two new staircases to get up to the two rooms containing supplies for Fairview’s basketball and football programs.
In the restroom category, it only had one restroom, if you could even call it that. It wasn’t even a real restroom because it had one stall out in the middle of the room and no sink. Originally, the building had no restrooms, so two new restrooms were added during the renovation as well.
They had a small stage in the old gym, which was replaced with a brand new stage with two storage closets and about a thirty-foot stage
The former uses for the old gym were: basketball practice, games, plays, and Prom. We still use the gym for pretty much the same things, except for basketball games; it’s too small to accommodate our fans.
The old gym means so much to this community because it was built during a down point in United States history in which the whole city of Westwood was full of unemployment.
The creation of the old gym was an attempt by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) to try to get people of the city of Westwood employed.
The old gym also is the first place I played basketball. All those things make it not only a landmark to Westwood, but also a landmark to me. So if anyone were to tear it down, it would take a big chunk of history away from Westwood and from me. Maybe a person that’s playing in there right now will turn out to be a superstar someday. This is why the old gym is a landmark because it preserves a lot of history.
This essay and photograph(s) are the property of Preservation Kentucky, Inc. and Kentucky Heritage Council and that any use of the photo or essay must be approved by PK and KHC. |
