It’s been part of the Quad Cities for 118 years, but has sat empty for the last 27.
On Monday, August 20th, 2012, the crane was in motion at the former Lincoln School in Rock Island, Illinois. Last Thursday, crews tore down the old gymnasium. You can read and watch that story here. City officials expect the entire demolition to take a couple weeks.
The city bought the building in 2007, in hopes of finding a new use for it or someone who would want to invest in rehabilitation. However, as the years went by, the old structure started to crumble and soon aldermen had to decide between putting more money into repairing a building that was not getting much interest or paying to demolish the structure.
In May, aldermen voted 6-1 to demolish the building. The vote overrode the city’s preservation committee’s vote to deny demolition.
Tearing the building down will cost the city around $444,000.
