CANTON TWP. – After serving six decades educating youth in the Canton Local School District, Harold R. Walker School has been demolished.
“Our intention is to sell that property,” Superintendent Brett Yeagley said. “We have not put it on the market yet.”
The school, which opened in 1962 and was located at 3525 Sandy Ave. SE, had been an elementary school in its final years. The Board of Education recently converted its Faircrest Memorial building at 616 Faircrest St. SW into an elementary school. Faircrest Memorial had been a middle school.
Canton Local also opened a new middle school at 4404 Cleveland Ave. SE.
More:Ohio high school football playoff picture broken down for Stark County-area teams
Who was Harold Walker?
Harold R. Walker School was named after a former Canton Local superintendent. Walker, an Army veteran, died in 2021 at age 94.
“Mr. Walker was a very important person in our district,” Yeagley said. “What we will do is find a way to honor him. While that building may not be there, we want to make sure we honor his legacy.”
The total cost of the demolition project, which involved removing asbestos, razing the school building and post-demolition reclamation of the land, is $738,188. When complete, the Canton Local Board of Education will have 24.4 acres of vacant land.
What will happen to the property?
Canton Township trustees have agreed to purchase 11 acres to add to the township’s adjacent park, Canton Township Community Park. The park sits to the west of the school property in the 3100 block of Oyer Street SE.
“The original discussion was around five (acres), but it expanded to 11,” township Trustee Mark Shaffer said. “They are willing to sell it to us for a little bit less than the market value.”
Canton Township trustees are paying $65,000 for the 11 acres.
“Our plan is to put the rest of it up for auction,” Yeagley said. “We don’t have a timeline on that right now.”
School system leadership was not interested in trying to sell the empty school building.
“We don’t want it to be an eyesore,” said Tom Kovesci, a member of the Canton Local Board of Education. “People that (may) buy it have good plans. It doesn’t always work out very well.”
Harold Walker is the latest in a series of elementary schools that Canton Local has either demolished or sold. The others are Waco, Prairie College, Trump, North Industry and Amos McDannel. In the early years of Harold Walker School, it functioned as a junior high school.
Despite the large availability of land, township Trustee Christopher Nichols does not anticipate any new residential subdivision in the future for the site, which lacks public sanitary sewer and water.
“For any kind of real development, that might be kind of a detriment,” Nichols said.
