Historic Roxbury School Approved For Demolition
ROXBURY (CBS) -- The battle over whether or not to demolish a historic school in Roxbury has finally reached the end.
Located in the heart of Roxbury, the 102-year-old Dearborn school is famous. It was built in 1912 and was designed specifically to focus on educating girls.
"It was originally built as a women's school," said neighbor Lorraine Wheeler. "It was sort of a change in education for women, in terms of offering them an education where they could go on to work."
Wheeler is one of many neighbors who says the city should not be demolishing this historic building.
"It's painful to us that we're losing, really, the most prominent building in the district," she said.
The Dearborn school was also famous for its role in desegregation—a school where black and white students studied side by side.
The city's Historical Commission approved the demolition of the school, in order to make room for a new school focusing on science, technology, and math.
City Councilor Tito Jackson says this is a tough call, but he thinks the new school is the right decision.
"We'll provide young people with the opportunity to enter fields in biotech, medicine, engineering," Jackson said.
Jackson says in the end, this will be the best thing for the kids and the community.
"It would be about $55 million to actually upgrade the school," he said. "It actually worked out better financially to build a new building."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports:
