piece of history worth saving

Feb. 14, 2000 10 PM

What happened at Monday night’s Pike County Board of Education meeting was bad news for residents of the city of Troy.

Board members declined an offer from the Pike County Chamber of Commerce’s Downtown Revitalization Committee to purchase the old Post Office downtown. The building is in a sorry state of disrepair and concerns are that it will be unsalvageable should it sit much longer without work.

Although the news isn’t good, we cannot blame the Pike County Board of Education for its position regarding the building. Appraised at $90,000, the Board feels that the $50,000 offer fell short of a decent selling price. And if there were ever a school system in need of money, the Pike County School System fits the bill.

Currently in possession of classrooms that aren’t suited for educating kids, with leaky roofs, stained carpet and cracking floor tiles, the school system needs help.

And in their defense, board members are holding a $90,000 asset and are being offered about 60 percent of that amount for it.

Putting politics aside, putting financial concerns aside and looking at the big picture tells us this, though. The failure of an organization with the funds to salvage that beautiful downtown white elephant to come into possession of the old Post Office means that we will all watch an historic piece of history crumble into the remains of mortar and brick. This is simply something that we, as citizens of Troy and Pike County, cannot sit back and allow to happen.

But the kicker is that time is running out. Under a March deadline for obtaining an arts and humanities grant to restore the building and turn it into a showcase for Pike County’s artwork and artists, we will soon be short of time and money.

This means the building, something that serves as an asset and a liability to the Pike County School System, will face threat of the wrecking ball in the near future.

Placing aside any blame, the only thing to be done is to find a way to meet the Pike County Board of Education’s asking price of $90,000 for the building.

If ever there was a time for a grassroots campaign to find dollars, this is it. Once the old Post Office’s roof gives way to the elements – which won’t be long according to reports – the building will cost more to fix than to demolish and rebuild.

We encourage you to contact the Pike County Chamber of Commerce and find out what you can do to help. Time is precious and it is rapidly running short. As a community, we must come together and work to see that another piece of Pike County’s rich cultural tradition doesn’t become a historical pile of crumbling bricks.