Washington County Enterprise-Leader
The Price Of Progress
Old Farmington High School Gym Torn Down
FARMINGTON — The price of progress sometimes means giving up old, cherished traditions, which is what Farmington schools became willing to do with demolition of the old high school gym last week.
Farmington held on to the old gym as long as it could, but an agreement with the state to receive partnership money to build the new, approximately 99,000-square-foot high school completed in the summer of 2017, mandated the demolition. The board and administration knew this day was coming. Former athletic director Brad Blew informed them several years ago that the old gym would eventually have to go.
“They won’t let us have that much gym space,” Blew said during a school board meeting, explaining state rules limited the amount of gym square-footage a school can have under its roof, and with the construction of the state-of-the-art, 1,800 seat Cardinal Arena, which opened to the public Jan. 16, 2015, that gym capacity would be exceeded.
Planning Stages
During a March 25, 2019, school board meeting held at Farmington High School, the board agreed to tear down the south hall of the junior high campus and the oldest high school gym as part of the money it received from the state for the new high school.
Kinco Construction was then designated as contractor for the project with a projected cost
$ 89,000 to remove asbestos from two areas and tear down the building. The money was to come from $ 160,000 in contingency set aside for Phase 3 of the Farmington High campus.
Timetable Changes
During its March 30, meeting, the board approved a contract with Kinco Construction for $174,000 to tear down the old high school gym. At the time outgoing superintendent of schools Bryan Law, whose last day on the job will be June 30, predicted the work would be completed this summer.
Law provided an updated timetable during the April 27, school board meeting.
“Next week we begin tear down of that facility,” Law said. “It’s a little bit ahead of schedule.”
The school district’s Master Academic Facilities Plan submitted earlier this year requests state partnership funding to replace the gym with a 23,000-squarefoot addition to the junior high campus. The district will not receive an answer on this request until spring 2021.
“That building has certainly served its time,” Law said, recalling during his first year at Farmington in 1999 the district was told the roof was condemned and would only last two or three more years.
“There’s a lot of history in that building. In that regard it’s a little bit sad,” Law said of the tear down.
Asbestos Abatement
As with any structural demolition, the first step begins with removal of asbestos. Asbestos abatement from the old gym began Tuesday, April 28, with removal of tiles from the floor. The building was sealed during the process with a negative air chamber recycling the air within the structure.
Rubber Meets Road
During the April 27 Farmington School Board meeting, longtime board member Jeff Oxford, who graduated from Farmington High School in 1986, noted the durability of a surface installed in 1979.
“That old rubber floor in there is 41 years old,” Oxford said.
Oxford’s graduating class in 1986 had 54 seniors. This year’s graduating class, according to high school Principal Jon Purifoy, will number 187.
That kind of growth necessitated construction of a new high school, which opened in time for the 201718 school year. Now called Farmington Career Academies by the Arkansas Department of Education, Farmington High School boasts wide hallways, large classrooms, fully equipped science labs, a modern media center, open agriculture department with individual welding stations in the shop, and a Cardinalthemed commons area. Career pathways classrooms are equipped for television/media production, robotics and engineering, and healthcare professions.
Myrl Massie Gym
Mryl Massie Gymnasium named after a former Farmington superintendent succeeded the old gym as home court for Farmington boys and girls basketball teams. Later volleyball was added, but volleyball matches were played at the middle school on Rhea’s Mill Road. For 30 years the Cardinals played home contests within the hallowed walls of Myrl Massie Gym until Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, when the Farmington boys and girls “turned out the lights” at Myrl Massie Gym with both winning their last games in that facility, against their fiercest rival, Prairie Grove. Farmington was then a member of the 5A West and the boys defeated the Tigers, 66- 53, while the Farmington girls prevailed, 5 3 - 42, both in nonconference contests.
One Last Hurrah
On the last night of official basketball competition at Myrl Massie Gymnasium on Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, Farmington’s old gym hosted a reception for alumni throughout the evening. The old gym was built in 1945, according to school records, the year World War II ended with American soldiers, sailors and marines returning home. The “Baby Boom” began and the old gym served as a training ground for Farmington students taking physical education classes as well as hosting basketball competition for 39 years.