Great title, eh? :D
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattferrell/3520077514/)
Thanks to flickr.
Summary
PS 4.
Public School # 4 is the famous abandoned school in Riverside.
The boiler room was center for a police confirmed rape.
The school was in the 60s, 70s (Surprising ain't it ?)
It was closed when the Highway opened.
Send me yours and youll get full credit.
Quote from: TimkinQuote from: iLenin
Great title, eh?
Thanks to flickr.
Summary
PS 4.
Public School # 4 is the famous abandoned school in Riverside.
The boiler room was center for a police confirmed rape.
The school was in the 60s, 70s (Surprising ain't it ?)
It was closed when the Highway opened.
Send me yours and youll get full credit.
Timkin to the rescue!!! ( I really wish I could rescue the Old School)
iLenin .......... Riverside Park Grammar School in Brooklyn (Public School #4) Was built in or around 1917 and replaced a wooden Schoolhouse structure on the same site. It remained open as a School until around 1960-1961 When Gilmore Street in that area was done away with to become what is presently Interstate95. The School remained in use as office space by Duval County School Board until around 1971. Somewhere in the period of time between then and 1980 it was used as Central Christian School , but the duration of that was brief.
Initially the introduction of the Interstate in the front of the School's yard , separating it from Riverside Park did cause the demise of it as a School, however it retained quite a good bit of it's front yard. At one time there was an exit ramp in front of it for College Street..
What really seems to have defeated it for any practical purpose is the expansion of the Interstate, the replacement of the Fuller Warren ( Originally Gilmore St Bridge) , and finally the overhaul of the I-95/I-10 mergers.. This expansion gave FDOT right of way, taking all of the land to the School on its front side /College St.. there literally is NO land left in that corner..all of it is right of way..
As to your claim of a police-confirmed rape in the boiler room... that is either very recent , or I did not know about that at all.. There are alot of claims surrounding the School: Crazy Janitor that killed a bunch of kids, a Principal that hid them in closets and ate them, a Boiler room explosion ( to me that is the most amusing one , because ,were it true , there would be nothing left of the building and probably buildings for blocks around it.)
The School is also significant to me , not just because of its Striking and Stately Neo Classic design ,but also that my Late Mother, attended the School in the late 40's when it was Riverside Grammar School.
In 1980 the School was purchased from Duval County School Board , by the Ida Stevens Foundation , who bought it ,intending to do a conversion on the School for residential living for Senior Citizens... Tax Credits and subsidies to do projects like that went away.. Subsequent plans for it ,for a variety of ideas , also never happened. The School remained under the owner ship of the Parent Foundation of the Ida Stevens Foundation , until about a year ago , when the building itself and the land below the building was bought up for back taxes owed on it. Since about 1955 , it has had no reasonable or practical maintenance done on it, and so the Roof of the Auditorium collapsed ,finally , from neglect in 2000.. and most of the rest of the roof system of the School is unstable... If you have been in or around it, it is obvious that Vandalism has taken its toll on the Building..
I would not say I have given up on hope that the School will be spared, but that practically speaking , and given our economic times, it is not looking good.
For some time , I led a cleanup effort on the Building and property along with the help of about 15 people and for some time there, we had the place looking pretty good.. Changes in my health made it pretty tough for me to continue working on it, and then the change of ownership... So there it is.
While it was known as Riverside Park Grammar School , Later , Annie Lytle Elementary School , and always as Public School Number Four, it has been located in an area of Jacksonville, known as Brooklyn. Today the School and few buildings in the surrounding blocks are what remains of the area known as Brooklyn. Much of it has been destroyed.
I remain hopeful that one day , a new use and an overhaul of the building , will help it see a new day and a new Chapter.
--Timkin
Thank Timkin for all of this useful information.
If my memory serves me, the school closed 50 years ago in 1961. Attempts were made to repurpose it, but those plans never took off or lasted very long...
Paging Timkin!
Quote from: Jaxson on October 14, 2011, 07:29:33 PM
If my memory serves me, the school closed 50 years ago in 1961. Attempts were made to repurpose it, but those plans never took off or lasted very long...
Paging Timkin!
Paging timkin?
^Timkin is the school's most passionate supporter.
Quote from: iLenin on October 14, 2011, 06:01:58 PM
Great title, eh? :D
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattferrell/3520077514/)
Thanks to flickr.
Summary
PS 4.
Public School # 4 is the famous abandoned school in Riverside.
The boiler room was center for a police confirmed rape.
The school was in the 60s, 70s (Surprising ain't it ?)
It was closed when the Highway opened.
Send me yours and youll get full credit.
:) Timkin to the rescue!!! ( I really wish I could rescue the Old School)
iLenin .......... Riverside Park Grammar School in Brooklyn (Public School #4) Was built in or around 1917 and replaced a wooden Schoolhouse structure on the same site. It remained open as a School until around 1960-1961 When Gilmore Street in that area was done away with to become what is presently Interstate95. The School remained in use as office space by Duval County School Board until around 1971. Somewhere in the period of time between then and 1980 it was used as Central Christian School , but the duration of that was brief.
Initially the introduction of the Interstate in the front of the School's yard , separating it from Riverside Park did cause the demise of it as a School, however it retained quite a good bit of it's front yard. At one time there was an exit ramp in front of it for College Street..
What really seems to have defeated it for any practical purpose is the expansion of the Interstate, the replacement of the Fuller Warren ( Originally Gilmore St Bridge) , and finally the overhaul of the I-95/I-10 mergers.. This expansion gave FDOT right of way, taking all of the land to the School on its front side /College St.. there literally is NO land left in that corner..all of it is right of way..
As to your claim of a police-confirmed rape in the boiler room... that is either very recent , or I did not know about that at all.. There are alot of claims surrounding the School: Crazy Janitor that killed a bunch of kids, a Principal that hid them in closets and ate them, a Boiler room explosion ( to me that is the most amusing one , because ,were it true , there would be nothing left of the building and probably buildings for blocks around it.)
The School is also significant to me , not just because of its Striking and Stately Neo Classic design ,but also that my Late Mother, attended the School in the late 40's when it was Riverside Grammar School.
In 1980 the School was purchased from Duval County School Board , by the Ida Stevens Foundation , who bought it ,intending to do a conversion on the School for residential living for Senior Citizens... Tax Credits and subsidies to do projects like that went away.. Subsequent plans for it ,for a variety of ideas , also never happened. The School remained under the owner ship of the Parent Foundation of the Ida Stevens Foundation , until about a year ago , when the building itself and the land below the building was bought up for back taxes owed on it. Since about 1955 , it has had no reasonable or practical maintenance done on it, and so the Roof of the Auditorium collapsed ,finally , from neglect in 2000.. and most of the rest of the roof system of the School is unstable... If you have been in or around it, it is obvious that Vandalism has taken its toll on the Building..
I would not say I have given up on hope that the School will be spared, but that practically speaking , and given our economic times, it is not looking good.
For some time , I led a cleanup effort on the Building and property along with the help of about 15 people and for some time there, we had the place looking pretty good.. Changes in my health made it pretty tough for me to continue working on it, and then the change of ownership... So there it is.
While it was known as Riverside Park Grammar School , Later , Annie Lytle Elementary School , and always as Public School Number Four, it has been located in an area of Jacksonville, known as Brooklyn. Today the School and few buildings in the surrounding blocks are what remains of the area known as Brooklyn. Much of it has been destroyed.
I remain hopeful that one day , a new use and an overhaul of the building , will help it see a new day and a new Chapter. :)
--Timkin
Quote from: Timkin on October 15, 2011, 03:58:51 AM
The School remained under the owner ship of the Parent Foundation of the Ida Stevens Foundation , until about a year ago , when the building itself and the land below the building was bought up for back taxes owed on it.
--Timkin
Timkin, Kay, or anyone else. Did the new owner who bought it seperate the parcel so that there are now two pieces of property. A new barrier that landlocks the school?
Noone .. NO .... Foundation Holdings IV owned ALL OF IT ....The School , the land below the School, the adjacent lands beside, behind , and in front of the School. Somehow they cut the property up (before the School and the land below the School was let go for back taxes owed on it ) Tarpon Holdings , LLC in South Florida owns the Building and the land below it.. So this chain of events now landlocked the Building , and to me , makes a renovation effort harder than ever .
EDIT...... Something else I forgot to mention was , PRIOR to the building being let go for the back-taxes owed on it, One corporation of Foundation Holdings IV , called Peninsular Brooklyn, LLC Owned the building, FH IV Owned all of the land... I do not understand HOW that was accomplished legally ,but in hindsight , I think I now understand WHY it was arranged like that.. it was simply because the building was the only asset to the corporation that owned it and it was structured that way so that liability was only on the "owner" of the building, which was Peninsular Brooklyn, LLC. So in other words , if someone got injured in the place, they could sue and the only asset that could be taken , was the building.
I will also go on to add that in 2000 , the Building was locally designated a Historic Landmark and remains with that status... I think that very action , alone has been the saving grace (at least so far) for the building NOT to be demolished.
I really wish there was the interest in this School that there is for the Shipyards, The Ford Plant , and Many of the other areas of town...that is not to say that those places are not significant OR important.. ALL OF THESE PLACES , represent Jacksonville History and should somehow , some way ,be spared.
As for School Four, the endless Vandalism and Breaking and entering to the building is certainly doing NOTHING AT ALL towards its salvation..it is infact, Fueling its demise. If one person dies in that building because of it's condition , It will come down so fast , your head will spin. IMHO. :(
There is a reason that I-95 was run next to AL instead of Robert E Lee High School. Its a matter of time before we all get to use the bricks from AL for something else....