WILLIAMSBURG, Ohio — For over 100 years, the Williamsburg High School building has sat on Main Street in the Village of Williamsburg, home of the Wildcats.
Nicknamed "The Old High School" by residents and alumni, the building was opened in the 1920s and was used as a high school until the 1990s. Then, a new high school was opened, and the old building was used by the district office and for other programs.
Now, the historic school is being demolished. Superintendent Matt Earley said by September of 2027, a new Pre-K through fifth-grade elementary school will take its place.
Our crews watched as construction workers cleared walls and cleaned up the rubble Thursday.
“I would be in that bottom left room in Mr. Abbott’s history class," Ruth Lung said, pointing towards the building.
Lung is the president of the district's alumni association and a 1973 Williamsburg High School graduate. She and other alumni joined me at the demolition site, sharing memories of their days inside Williamsburg High School.
“When the first brick was down, everybody said, ‘You seen it? They’re tearing down the school," Lung said.
WATCH: How Williamsburg alums remember their old high school
“Some of my best friends, we still get together once a month and have lunch. Williamsburg had that camaraderie, it’s just hard to explain," Guy Bainum said. Bainum graduated in 1972.
The members of the alumni association shared memories, yearbooks and photos that date back to 1924. The group even sang their alma mater.
"To the old Williamsburg, praises we sing," the group sang.
Renderings for the new elementary school can be seen at the construction site, and the image shows that the new building will resemble the old one.
"We’re tearing down a 100-year-old building that is arguably the most historic site in Clermont County. We can’t build a, just what I call, a cookie-cutter school building," Earley said.
Both the alumni association and the superintendent told me that bricks from the high school will be given away. The school district also has information about purchasing a piece of the old high school gym floor.
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Other items like clocks, signs and chalkboards have been salvaged from the school.
"It’s hard to leave those memories, but we’re lucky we have them," Lung said.
