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STEUBENVILLE - Sixty-eight years ago, Wells Junior High School burned to the ground, leaving behind only an annex and an empty lot.

Now that annex has become a memory, with its demolition during the weekend.

The building situated at the corner of Fourth and North streets was first constructed in 1916 with the purpose of serving as a two-story addition to the former Wells High School. It was erected across the alley from the main building, being connected by an enclosed bridge.

That annex was the only portion of the school which remained after fire tore through the classrooms around 11:15 p.m. on April 27, 1941 - just eight months after high school students relocated to their new building and the city's junior high students moved in.

As a result of the fire, 780 students and 25 teachers were misplaced and divided between the then Grant and Washington school buildings.

Bringing the annex back

After being vacant for almost two decades, city taxpayers passed a $4 million bond in 1959 for remodeling and building within the city schools. It was then the annex was brought back to life.

Six classrooms were added in a new wing of the structure and partitions were removed and rebuilt. Each classroom then was modernized with its own sink and drinking fountain and a clinic, library, offices and stage were added. A new playground was built for the kindergarteners through sixth-graders attending the school.

However, once the 1970s came around, the population of the city declined and there was no longer a need to keep the doors to Wells open. Those attending the school were sent to either Grant or the newer Garfield schools.

But the 1980s proved to be just what was needed to reopen the doors to Wells.

Grant school had closed and the downtown population once again became stable. The school was reopened for those in kindergarten through fifth grade, and the building shared its space with the Jefferson County Head Start program.

The first decade of the new millennium saw Wells Academy pupils flourish, with the school being named one of only four in the country to be awarded the Dispelling the Myth Award from the Educational Trust in Washington, D.C.

Wells was selected because it has made "significant strides in academic achievement among student groups" with emphasis placed on the areas of reading and math, according to school officials.

The demolition of Buena Vista and the former Wells School are part of the restructuring of Steubenville City School District through its Building Excellent Schools for Tomorrow Project, completed earlier this year.

The purpose of the project was to bring the school district down from eight buildings to four, including McKinley Elementary School, which houses younger and special education children, as well as the board and administrative offices. In the end, the a project has totaled more than $32 million.

Funding was obtained through the school district in conjunction with the Ohio School Facilities Commission, which paid 77 percent of the project, leaving the district to pay the remaining 23 percent through Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, a donation from the Charles M. and Thelma M. Pugliese Charitable Foundation and donations from individuals and organizations.

What used to be

With this week's demolition of the Wells building, some community residents are recalling memories of the school.

Steubenville resident Bill Croskey was a seventh-grade pupil at Grant School when the high school burned in 1941.

He explained the lot on which Wells once stood was purchased by the board of education for $15,000, with construction first beginning in July 1905. The architects for the project were Webster and Peterson, with Frank McFeeley doing the contracting.

Fourteen months later, on Sept. 4, 1906, Wells High School opened its doors. The cost was $100,000.

Croskey remembers his two sisters attending the high school - Helen Croskey-McCart and Virginia Croskey-Hescht, who later made the move from Wells to the new high school. Graduating in 1933 and 1935, respectively, the women had shared stories of their years in the building with their brother.

The high school had only seven teachers and a growing number of students, Croskey said. The facility's auditorium was not capable of housing all of its students because attendance was growing so fast.

"They could only house 700 students in the auditorium," he commented, adding when assemblies had to take place, the students were sent across the street to what used to be Calvary Church.

"When you went to the church, you had to enter in complete silence," Croskey stated. "That tradition of remaining silent carried on for several years at the new high school, too."

When the Wells annex was built, it provided the additional space needed and a gymnasium was added to its basement. An enclosed bridge also was constructed so students did not have to walk around the outside of the high school to get to the annex. This space was used for science classes, Croskey noted.

"The building had its own power system and bullet-proof windows," he recalled of the school. "The city wasn't going to accept the building because it wasn't fire-proof, but eventually they did."

Yet fire is what ended up being the end of the school.

Although the city's fire department was located directly across the street from the high school, the blaze somehow got out of control and it took several surrounding fire departments to assist, according to reports.

Croskey said he believes oily rags thrown into a corner of the school's basement combusted and caught fire.

When Wells High School students relocated to their new building, which now stands at the corner of Fourth and Dock streets, it was announced the school was going to be called Stanton Memorial High. However, one student named Alfred Cocumelli decided to speak his mind to the board of education, protesting that name.

Cocumelli spoke on behalf of other classmates and teachers who preferred to name the new home Steubenville High School. And with the board's approval, one month later, so it was. And so it is today.

Wells pupils now attend classes in a portion of Steubenville High School

(Ghrist can be contacted at jstenger@heraldstaronline.com.)