Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Elementary School Built in 1800s to Get Modernization Upgrades

  • By Matt Jones
  • 06/14/21

Dubois Elementary School, part of Springfield School District 186 in Springfield, Ill., will see a series of renovations start this summer meant to modernize the campus while paying respects to its 125-year history. The school, which was built in 1897, will get additional classroom space, smaller spaces intended for group work, and its first elevator.

The school’s historical entry point, a vaunted façade facing Lincoln Avenue, will remain unchanged. Construction items include a new service road for ease of dropping off and picking up students and a new main entrance at street level.

“It’s respecting our history as we move forward into the future,” said Principal Dan Ford.

According to the district’s Facilities Master Plan, other renovations include security upgrades, rebuilding the boiler building’s north wall, renovations to four bathrooms, replacing exterior doors, and upgrades to the air circulation system. According to the State Journal-Register, the school saw its last major addition more than a century ago, in 1916.

District superintendent Jennifer Gill said that the project is finally coming to fruition after “a lot of work and engagement throughout our community. We had nine community engagement sessions, asking our public what they wanted to see in our schools and also by doing an educational feasibility study, where we looked at every school and the needs they had.”

The work will come to a total of about $2.5 million and is scheduled for completion in February 2022. Funding for the project comes from a 1% sales tax approved by Sangamon County voters in 2018. The architect of record is the Farnsworth Group.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Round Rock ISD Completes New Early College High School

    Round Rock ISD near Austin, Texas, recently announced that construction is complete on a new, 46,500-square-foot campus for Early College High School, according to a news release. The new facility will allow the school’s students and staff to move from portables into a permanent building and increase its enrollment to 500.

  • El Paso District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    The Canutillo Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, recently announced that construction has begun on a 119,000-square-foot elementary school, according to a news release. The district partnered with Pfluger Architects, Carl Daniel Architects, and LDCM Solutions on the new Davenport Elementary School, which has an expected completion date of 2027.

  • LAN, Inc. Opens Office in College Station, Texas

    Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. (LAN) recently announced the opening of a new office in College Station, Texas, to support its regional client base, according to a news release. The organization provides engineering, design, and program management services for water, wastewater, transportation, stormwater, and education clients in the Brazos Valley.

  • Photo credit: Elkus Manfredi Architects

    University of Virginia Selects Design-Build Team for New Residential Complex

    The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., recently announced that it has selected a design-build team for a new upper-class residential development on campus, according to a news release. Capstone Development Partners—in partnership with Elkus Manfredi Architects and the Hoar Construction/Hourigan construction team—will move forward with the three-building, 310,000-square-foot housing facility.