With their glory days long gone, Gary Emerson and Horace Mann high schools represent blighted eyesores that conjure up nostalgia and grim realities.
Soon, they might be just memories like previously demolished Lew Wallace and Froebel high schools.
The Gary Housing Authority, which owns the schools, and the city of Gary are completing state and federal approvals for the demolition of Emerson and Horace Mann, and two adjacent vacant elementaries, Spaulding and Vohr.
What will go in their place hasn’t been announced yet. In recent years, though, the GHA has demolished Delaney, Dorie Miller, and Colonial Gardens public housing centers so its housing stock has diminished.
No timeline has been set for the demolitions.
The GHA has obtained conditional and preliminary approval for the schools’ demolition from the Indiana State Historical Preservation Office, said GHA executive director Taryl Bonds.
It’s still awaiting final approval on Emerson from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent federal agency that handles historic preservation case reviews.
The review is required by 1966 federal legislation because Emerson, Gary’s first high school, is listed on the National Register.
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The GHA has retained a historic preservation consulting firm to assist with the effort.
Bonds answered questions regarding the demolitions in an email last week, although his status with the GHA remains unclear.
The GHA Board of Commissioners suspended him without pay for 60 days in connection with allegations from a June 20 incident that led to criminal charges against him.
Bonds pleaded not guilty to two felony strangulation charges and two misdemeanor charges stemming from a domestic incident at his home. A hearing before Lake Superior Court Judge Natalie Bokota is set for Oct. 22.
Bonds’ suspension period ended Sept. 1, but no one would confirm whether he’s returned to work.
His attorney, Amishi Sanghvi, declined to comment because of ongoing court proceedings, and neither Bonds nor GHA chairwoman Cynthia I. Taylor returned requests for comment.
Bonds, however, did respond to an email regarding the demolitions.
Emerson, at 716 E. 7th Ave., is steeped in history as the city’s first high school, but today the 1908 building is a hollowed-out shell devoid of windows, falling prey to vandals and the elements.
Its historical significance dates back to 1927 when Gary’s first superintendent, William A. Wirt, sent 18 Black honor students to integrate Emerson because their own all-Black school was overcrowded.
Their arrival came as a Ku Klux Klansman sat on the Gary City Council, and segregation was the de facto law of the land.
The Black students endured racial taunts, heckling and threats during their first week.
In the second week, 800 white students walked out and paraded down Broadway, vowing to boycott Emerson if the Black students remained.
After four days, the school board met with the white students and brokered a deal. A high school, later named after Theodore Roosevelt, would be built in Midtown and the 18 Black students would return to their shabby Midtown school.
Emerson also gained national attention from Wirt’s progressive “work-study-play” curriculum which drew educators from across the U.S. and internationally.
Wirt’s progressive education vision turned Gary schools into more than classrooms. Emerson had an auditorium, a gymnasium, a swimming pool and an upstairs indoor running track. It contained seven labs, band and orchestra rooms, art studios and an industrial arts area where students could explore their passions outside of the classroom.
Horace Mann High School, at 524 Garfield, opened in 1928 and continued Wirt’s creative view of education. Many children of steel mill executives attended the school.
Its campus resembled a small college with a pond in front of its main entrance with a pedestrian bridge.
In 1940, Mann’s Tom Harmon became the lone Gary graduate to win the Heisman Trophy when he played for the University of Michigan.
With the city’s school population in dramatic decline, its historical schools have paid the price in neglect. In 2015, police found a strangled 15-year-old Chicago teen girl dead in an Emerson classroom.
Mann has suffered several arson fires, including one that gutted its once majestic auditorium.
Even Roosevelt, the city’s most cherished school, has been vacant since 2019 and fallen into disrepair. Alumni and nonprofit groups hope to restore and repurpose the school to serve the community’s needs.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development agency designated the city as the “Responsible Entity” on its behalf for the demolition project. It’s tasked with carrying out the federal review process on Emerson.
The GHA and the city discussed the project and potential mitigation measures during a virtual meeting on July 7. Bonds said no public hearings will be held on the proposed demolitions.
Public notices regarding the demolitions are available on the GHA’s website.
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Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.