Dear Editor,

No, no, no! This cannot be happening! How can the High School Building be beyond repair? I was concerned when, on the first day of school this year, they diverted all of its occupants to a different “location” due to an emergency structural issue (Hmmmm). The School Board voted unanimously to demolish the building.

Is this really the last word on the subject? Can’t we get other experts to weigh in before we do something this drastic?

I’ll be the first to admit it is a commitment and a duty to own and inhabit an old building. You are its guardian and caretaker and advocate. Although it requires constant diligence, the rewards far outweigh the problems. The high school isn’t just a building. It’s history. It’s a legacy. A symbol of another time.

Okmulgee has lost so many of these treasures, mostly due to abandonment or neglect – fires, if rarely are they razed just because they are old. If this is your argument, why not just tear down most of Main Street? Or how about the Orpheum?! Get rid of these old eye sores and money pits. (Um, just kidding.)

It is such a privilege for us to still have so many examples of Okmulgee’s glory days. It is getting more and more difficult to find positive things here in Okmulgee, but our old buildings are still a sight to behold. You say we can’t afford to fix the high school? Sorry, we can’t afford not to. We’ve lost too many treasures already. The area between Morton St. and Kirby held a five-story building on the corner (with a Hallmark store), a bank (pool hall) that looked like the Parthenon and Bishop’s Restaurant with its cool blue neon sign. The corner of 4th and Okmulgee Streets had the three- or four-story Beauclair Apartments. 4th and Morton had the Belmont Hotel, and the Parkinson Hotel was in the Orpheum parking lot (both of these now are made amazing apartments!). We have also managed to eliminate our 13 Elementary schools – (and replaced them with two brick boxes!)

This is the Creek/Muskogee Capital for Heaven’s sake. Let’s be proud of what is left here, instead of automatically destroying yet another treasure, forever!

How about we use our God-given imaginations here – maybe the High School could be re-purposed. Put City Hall there, and tear down the brick box it’s now housed in. (And while you’re at it, tear down the one behind Brock as a bonus!). Put the Lighthorse Police in the high school. Have City Council meetings and Town Halls in the Auditorium. Bring back the courtyard in the middle, and, by the way, when I went to school there, the Courtyard was not enclosed with a flat roof, and it did have a huge drain in the center … Could this unfortunate remodel have anything to do with these water issues? Hmmmm.

I have to believe that the spaces we occupy matter. I’ve devoted my entire architectural career on this assumption.

Even if we aren’t consciously aware of their influence, spaces do affect us. They can inspire us or horrify us. Please, let us explore other options. Contact the Historic Preservation Office and see what resources are available. Look at what PSO did with the Central High School building in downtown Tulsa.

Please don’t let this be the final decision.

Sarah Doan Schmitz