“Survey of Public School Buildings in Itawamba County School District, Fulton, Mississippi, 1956.” Original at MDAH Archives, RG 50, Series 1653: School Building Surveys from the Act of 1953
One of the problems with Preservation in Mississippi‘s lack of News Roundups in 2019 is that important stories have not been disseminated, even when they have involved the potential demolition of a historic school building. And one only needs to go through the site’s archives for a short time to realize that every single author on the site loves historic school buildings.
In this case, the school in question is Itawamba County’s Banner School. There is not much information available about Banner School’s history. The Facebook group Banner Elementary School Graduates appears to be the only online source available, and while I am sure a local historian has researched and written a history of the county and its educational system, my library is lacking in Itawamba County history books.
Banner School was a consolidated school. It originated with Evening Shade School, a pre-consolidation school housed in a one-room, wood-frame building on Vinson Road. Banner School opened in 1929, with the school building’s construction likely contemporaneous with its opening. The school illustrates the dramatic changes in school facilities brought by consolidation. Instead of a one-room, wood-frame building, Banner School had seven classrooms plus a lunchroom, auditorium, and office, all arranged in an H-plan. The photographs I have seen of the building do not conclusively show whether the building is constructed solely of brick or whether it is of frame construction with brick veneer (my guess would be the latter), and while I drove past the school several times while traveling on Mississippi Highway 23 when I attended Mississippi State, I never had the time to stop, examine, and photograph it. Grades 1-8 attended, which means that one of the seven classrooms must have been home to a combined class of two grades. All eight grades of students were white. Banner School was open for just shy of thirty years; its last school year was 1958, with it closing due to the same reason it opened: school consolidation.
Banner School, Front Facade, July 2000 MDAH Itawamba County Historic Schools Survey, Jennifer Baughn, photographer; MDAH Historic Resources Inventory
In the four decades between the time it closed and when an MDAH survey was conducted in 2000, the school building went from an H-plan to somewhat of a capital I-plan as both rear classroom wings were lopped off. Windows on the side façades were also bricked up. These changes are likely what has prevented the building from being designated as a Mississippi Landmark, such as Itawamba County’s other remaining historic school buildings: Fulton Grammar School, Carolina Consolidated School II, and Oakland School.
Banner School, Rear Facade showing the removed Classroom Wings, July 2000 MDAH Itawamba County Historic Schools Survey, Jennifer Baughn, photographer; MDAH Historic Resources Inventory
In February of this year, the Itawamba County School District deeded the property and building to the Itawamba County Board of Supervisors for the purpose of the county demolishing it to build the Banner/Bounds Fire Department a new fire station adjacent to the old station (or to expand and repair the old station, both were plans were mentioned by the Board). The school was cited as having been vacant for an unspecified length of time, though before its abandonment, it served as a community center for decades after its use as a school ceased. The Board of Supervisors argued that the building, though appearing in “decent condition” on the exterior, has “an interior that is slowly collapsing.” Another stated reason for the building’s demolition was to fix drainage issues affecting the old Banner/Bounds fire station, which is affected in heavy rains by water flowing “under the schoolhouse and into the fire department.”
By March 13, the Board of Supervisors advertised for sealed bids on the purchase of Banner Schoolhouse and its contents, with the winner having 30 days to demolish and/or salvage the building. Citing the liability of allowing members of the public into a vacant, “falling in” building, members of the public were not allowed to remove benches or any other items pre-demolition. At the time, the Board was already running into problems with their demolition plan, as one supervisor who reached out to his “contacts about tearing the building down” stated, “People I’ve asked about tearing it down don’t want to fool with it.”
Two months later, on May 15, the Board’s plans foundered due to a pair of snags. The first was that no demolition bids were received. The second is that, thanks to Antiquities Law of Mississippi, as a publicly-owned property, Banner School is under the purview of the MDAH, which would have to approve the demolition. Instead, the Board chose to “dodge a good deal of paperwork” by doing nothing with the building.
Lest one think that the Banner/Bounds Fire Department comes out as a loser in all of this, the Board of Supervisors decided to build the new fire station elsewhere on the property with a supervisor stating, “We’re going to move the whole fire department. There’s plenty of land back there.” Of course, there always seems to be plenty of land and other options once the knee-jerk action of demolition is thwarted.
One should not think that Banner School is saved. The building is still vacant and whether the interior is collapsing or not, buildings which are vacant and unmaintained eventually deteriorate to the point that it becomes a hard-sell to get them restored. When that hard-sell is accomplished, restoration comes at a far greater expense than if they had been maintained in the first place. Whether Banner School can be restored is a question I do not know the answer to. Whether Banner School will be restored is another question. I hope the answer to both of those questions is yes. What I do know is that the building still stands and as long as that is the case, there is always hope that it can and will be restored.
The Itawamba County Times articles, “Supervisors deeded Banner Schoolhouse, will tear it down,” “Our Opinion: Sometimes the best choice is to let go,” “Supervisors deny requests for mementos from Banner Schoolhouse,” and “Banner Schoolhouse to remain standing” chronicle the school’s recent near-death experience.
Categories: Demolition/Abandonment, Historic Preservation, Schools
Preservation in Mississippi 
I found the part about water flowing under the schoolhouse and the schoolhouse preventing re-routing the water confusing. You cannot re-route the water that flows under the schoolhouse, but if you demolish the building, you will be able to re-route it? If water is flowing, it seems it will flow with or without the building standing where there is a drainage issue. Since moving to Mississippi where there is always water flowing downhill, I have been educated considerably on water run-off. I see plenty of evidence right on campus daily of how to channel water around a building where the terrain is conducive to run-off, and right into a drain to carry it away from said buildings and parking lots.
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I think the water drainage “issue” is simply an issue of justification, another excuse to get rid of the building. The school itself has nothing to do with the “issue,” which is one of topography. Banner School is at the top of a small rise; the fire station is just below it on that rise. Demolishing the school would make no difference to the drainage, unless the plan is to level its rise and make the fire station the highest point. But, if you listened to the Board of Supervisors, you would think water was being pumped out from under the school at the fire station.
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It is always the case, where there is a lack of political will to do what could be done.
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I agree with Suzassippi. The two first photographers show the school being on a minor height of land. What water? As she said, drains and channels can be dug to control runoff. Ah well….
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I suggest that in these demolition cases that photos be published of the “Deciders” that are making decisions to destroy historic buildings that were financed by the levying of ad valorem taxes on property owners. This will provide some “context”of why all this is now happening.
It’s an uphill battle and the “Deciders” will win. One man, one vote changed it all.
Henry L. Mencken said it best:
A professional politician is a professionally dishonest man. In order to get anywhere near the high office, he has to make so many compromises and so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.
Btw, Johnnie Miller Roofing of Crawford, who walked away with $80,000 handed to him by architect McKlesky at Eaton School, is now employed by Graham Roofing Co. of West Point. The company has a branch office in Tennessee.
Too bad we didn’t then have a “Shad” at the attorney General’s office. Could this “cold case” be a subject for the new State Auditor?
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