A nearly 100-year-old school in the northeast Iowa town of Dunkerton will be demolished soon and residents of the small Black Hawk County community are now buying items that’ve been collecting dust in the building.
Dunkerton Superintendent Jim Stanton says an auction is planned in April when entire classrooms will be on the block. “As far as the desks and chairs and things like that – that’s all going to be in rooms and whoever buys that room, gets whatever is in the room,” Stanton said. “That includes the woodwork and chalk boards, those types of things.”
The classrooms have not been used for 8 years and are full of old desks, textbooks, and other items. The district has been pre-selling rows of hallway lockers and rows of auditorium chairs, which were placed in the school when it was built in 1921.
“So, we’re selling those rows of anywhere from 12 to 20 (chairs) between $400 and $600, at $35 a chair, so people are coming in and picking up rows of chairs,” Stanton said. Bricks from the building are also being sold for $5 each. The live auction will be held on April 7.
The building will be demolished this summer to make room for a new elementary school. “And then in the fall, they’ll start building (the new school) and our plan is to start moving into the new building somewhere around Christmas 2019,” Stanton said.
The old Dunkerton School Building was badly damaged in a couple of storms, including a tornado in 2008. Students were moved to a nearby building, constructed in 1956, that will eventually be demolished as well.