A long process, painful for many, is nearly finished after heavy machinery knocked down much of the Rippey school on Friday. The building was closed as an attendance center four years ago and the East Greene board education decided to raze the 1921 structure rather than risk it becoming an eyesore or liability to the Rippey community.
The 1957 gymnasium has been renamed the William and Maybelle Wisecup Memorial Gymnasium will remain standing and will serve as a practice gym and game location for sub-varsity basketball games.
The demolition was initially planned to take place a year ago, but re-bidding asbestos removal delayed it to this year. Asbestos removal was completed in the late spring by Environmental Services of Iowa. Lansing Bros Construction of Luxemburg, which has demolished similar buildings all over Iowa, arrived to begin a salvage operation in mid-September.
A crew started early last week tearing holes in the building through which material could be removed. The school district will receive up to $21,000 of the total $111,000 demolition cost through a Department of Natural Resources grant, determined by how much material is diverted from landfills. Lansing Bros has worked within that grant program on previous projects and is working to net the maximum reimbursement for the district.
On Thursday it looked like the actual demolition would be delayed one last time. Wet grounds created problems for the heavy equipment and Monday (Oct. 6) was named as the target day. However, the job was started Friday and, as predicted, it went quickly.
Photos are by Connnie Gohn Ades via Facebook. Ades lives near the school. In a Facebook comment she admitted she cried as she took the pictures. To see more pictures, to read comments or to post comments, visit the Remembering the Rippey School Facebook page here.
