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The Old West Side School Building
Built in 1904, this incredible building is a paragon in school construction for its day!
Close to 40,000 square feet inside, it has 4 floors, including an auditorium with 25' ceilings, a stage and dressing rooms!
The first floor (technically the basement) is partially underground, but has outside access, is used for cutting and sanding studios and storage.
The second floor is production and creation studios. Six large (1000'2) classrooms are now creation rooms, and oh what wonderful studios they are!
They were built with architectural details such as archways, and oval windows, and are a stately reminder of the rich past of the area.
At the time our school was built, Grafton was a boom-town in the coal and transportation industries. It was home to a large rail yard, where
nearly all east coast trains went through at one time or another on journey. The school was busy with children from the west side of town, and we have been told many wonderful, and not so wonderful stories from
former students. We have been collecting class photos from alumni, if you have one you would like to share for our museum room, please contact us, we
would love to hear from you!
Sarel and Lorna are renovating their apartment areas in 2006. Several classrooms were subdivided in the 1980's for the Taylor County Board of Education offices, and now they are living space for the Venter family. Outside the beautiful school building has some new
windows in back of the building. Lorna's cat rescue efforts is housed in two classrooms now. Learn more about PURR and cats who are getting second chances.
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