POUND — Three weeks after beginning fundraising, the Pound Historical Society has doubled its goal for the construction of a wall featuring the facade of the old Pound High School.
“It will be a wall,” Historical Society President Margaret Meade Sturgill said Thursday. “We raised $6,337 from the community and our little angel Annie from Shockey Hollow donated another $5,000.”
Annie – Anna Buchanan Wilburn – has helped the Historical Society on several occasions when projects needed help, Sturgill said.
“She was one of the first classes to graduate from Pound High School,” Sturgill said, “and she was truly an angel to the town.”
Sturgill said the cost of the wall project was estimated at $5,600 when the society launched its fundraising campaign, but members found they had to do a last-minute investigation into the ownership of the headquarters. company to ensure that the wall would not be on the public right-of-way. .
The wall project began as Wise County demolished the school — one of three properties in the county slated for demolition this spring, Sturgill said. While the demolition contractor at first thought he would not be able to salvage the concrete facade during his work, he allowed the company to take a look before work began on the main building.
Local business owner Eddie Buchanan of Buchanan Pump agreed to help with workers and a lift after company members Bill Gilliam and Finley Jackson inspected the facade and found it could be removed into five sections.
Sturgill said the additional donations will not only cover survey work, but could help add lighting around the wall as well as provide future money for maintenance and utility costs with l ‘lighting.
“I know the community trusts us to spend the money responsibly, and we will,” Sturgill said.
Sturgill said earlier that she had a strong personal connection to the Pound High School Wall Project – she was a graduate and her parents had been in charge of maintenance and custodial work at the high school for years. Even after school and activities, Sturgill said she helps her parents with their weekly routine by keeping the school clean and functional.
The property survey will likely delay completion of the wall from its original Memorial Day goal, Sturgill said, but it will be complete by summer.
“This project was about school bonding, love and fond memories,” Sturgill said. “Our city has succeeded in making this possible.”
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