On December 21, 2008 Chris and I made what could be the last visit to Colonel White HS, which is in the process of being torn down. Colonel is now called Thurgood Marshall HS located on the site of the old Roth High School in West Dayton. Chris and I decided to go down and shoot some pictures of our old school, so we parked in front of the building and walked around outside of the school grounds for a bit and we noticed that there was a large opening in the fence that was surrounding the school. The fence is there to keep people off of the closed property during the demolition process. Well, Chris and I got the bright idea to risk life and limb and the chance of incarceration to walk around on the grounds of CW. After we entered the property we noticed that the front doors where open, so we decided to go inside, we where pretty nervous because a large part of the school had been torn down already and there was just mass destruction everywhere. Not knowing what to expect when we got inside of the building, we entered through the front main entrance along the way having to step over allot of rubble and garbage. As we walked up the stairs I begin to feel a deep empty feeling in the pit of my stomach because I didn’t know what I was going to see or if the police would be waiting on us when we came back out.   We made it through the front door and it was like a bomb had went off, and I wish I could tell you it was a good feeling that I felt when I went through that front door but it wasn’t it was a sad feeling and a feeling of loss, our beloved Colonel White looked like it had been empty for a 100 years, it was stripped of it’s life, it was a surreal feeling to know that just a year ago this place was filled with life, it was a sad feeling to know that just 20 years ago my fellow classmates and I walked these halls, those same halls where quiet and void of any thing that I could recall, the place was quiet and calm, the only noise was the outside wind blowing through the building making strange noises and as we walked we come up on pictures of students, pictures taken inside the school, we would find papers and reports from students, pencils and other materials used during a normal school day almost like the school was trying to hold onto those things. Chris and I walked through what parts of the building that we could, we didn’t say much to each other I guess we where just trying to make sense of all that we were witness to at the time. We were trying to put a positive face on it and make jokes but the reality of it all was that our school would be no more in a mater of a just a few weeks, but we did take some comfort in knowing that Chris Turner and Jimmy Wilson class of 1989 could possibly be the last CW grads to walk those halls for the last time. I can’t really say that it was a good thing that we walked through that building, because I didn’t want my last memories of CW to be a discarded old building filled with trash and rubble, instead I want to remember CW as a very important part of my life and you may disagree with me on this but let me ask you this, why are you still reading (thought so) your still reading because there was a small part of you there, maybe very tiny part but a part never the less and some of those memories are good and some you probably would rather not remember but they are memories and know one can tear down your memories and I can go on and on all day about my memories about that place, hell we all can but IL just end it here and let you all look at the photo’s we took and let you all recall your own memories of Colonel White and what effect that place had on you, So I’ll just say Thanks and goodbye Colonel White.

Jimmy/Chris

Main entrance to the school.

From the main entrance facing the lunch room.

Front hall way

This is the other part of the main hall way looking south, notice the sun light, that's because this part of the school is gone.

The lunch room, and no we never had a patio, a large part of the lunch room was missing.

And the picture below is what that area used to look like.

Back of the lunch room.

Other end of the lunch room, photo below was same area of the lunch room just a few months ago.

Library

Back Hallway, photo below is the same area.

Class room before and after.

Below, Office before and after.

These photo's say it all.

Picture above where Chris is standing was the entrance to the Gym.

This is funny, the words on the wall says Tornado Area, Ya think?

This area used to be our gym.

Entrance to the lunchroom.

Front of the building.

The ball bat is for any run-ins with someone or something.

Main entrance to the library.

Outside, in location of what used to be the gym.

 

"Class of 89 was here"