GIRARDVILLE - A borough landmark will face the wrecking ball this month.
The 92-year-old Immaculate Heart of Mary School building on Richard Street, across from St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, has a facade that is crumbling onto the sidewalk, and the interior has been severely damaged from a leaking roof.
"The building is in disrepair and will come down," Matt Kerr, communications director for the Diocese of Allentown, on Wednesday. "The building has not been used as a school since 2006."
Kerr said Northeast Industrial Service Corp., Shamokin, has been hired to do the demolition work. In October 2012, the company worked across the street to demolish the former Girardville Primitive Methodist Church, which was constructed in 1873. At the time, the church had also been vacant and sustained structural problems due to deterioration and water damage.
Kerr said the demolition cost of the school is $53,500. The diocese will put up the money for the demolition due to the need to raze it quickly, but the parish will be responsible to pay the money back over time.
"We expect to have the demolition completed by the end of September," Kerr said.
In 2006, Immaculate Heart School, Holy Family School in Frackville and Father Walter J. Ciszek Elementary School in Shenandoah were merged into Trinity Academy, with the Father Ciszek building becoming the regional school. Immaculate Heart and Holy Family were closed and the Girardville building became the responsibility of St. Joseph Church.
Trinity Academy serves the parishes of Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, Frackville, Ashland, Girardville, Gordon, Ringtown, Lost Creek and Sheppton.
The Rev. Edward B. Connolly said some preparation work has been done, specifically the removal of asbestos. But the future of the property after the building is brought down hasn't yet been decided, Connolly said.
"My pipe dream is to have a multipurpose parish hall but more realistically, it will be a parking lot," he said. "Maybe eventually both."
The Immaculate Heart building was completed and opened in 1921 as St. Joseph School, according to information provided by Ian Getzey, who assists with various tasks at St. Vincent de Paul Church rectory in Girardville and in the parishes of St. Vincent de Paul and St. Joseph, both in Girardville. By the next year, a convent was built for the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the area directly in front of the school where the playground is, and the IHM sisters taught in the school.
The school included first through 12th grades, although in the first year, only grades one to seven were formed. Each year, a grade was added until there were 12. The starting enrollment of the school was 450 and by 1928, there were 624 students in 12 grades. The Rev. John J. Mealey was pastor at the time the school was established.
The enrollment at St. Joseph School declined in the late 1960s, which prompted its merger with St. Vincent de Paul School, also in Girardville, in 1968. Even-number grades attended St. Vincent's and odd-number grades attended St. Joseph's. St. Vincent School closed in 1972.
A similar merger took place with St. Joseph School, Ashland, and St. Joseph in Girardville, with kindergarten through grade four attending school in Ashland and grades five to eight attending in Girardville.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary School was established in 1981. It was formed by the two parishes of Girardville, St. Joseph and St. Mauritius in Ashland and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Gordon.
In 1979, the convent was closed and the IHM sisters moved to Ashland. They continued to teach in Girardville until the school closed in 2006. The convent was demolished in the mid-1990s.
Connolly and Getzey said the roof began leaking about the time the school closed in 2006. When Connolly was transferred to Girardville in 2008, significant water damage had been done to the classrooms on the top floor, and as the leaking became worse, the lower floors were damaged to the point that by late 2010 and early 2011, the bottom floor could no longer be used as a parish hall.