What’s In Store For Monroe City’s Holy Rosary School Building?

I'm not sure you can directly thank Chip and Joanna Gaines, but design shows like theirs have fueled a trend in recent years of using reclaimed or repurposed material in decor and construction projects. The reclamation movement is paying off at the old Holy Rosary School building in Monroe City.

Rather than take a wrecking ball to this old 1920 structure, the building is being disassembled board by board, brick by brick. That rich history will find its way to locations all around the world.

The tin ceiling will be sold to collectors. The yellow plank pine floors will find new life in projects all around the country. The slate chalkboards will become new countertops and floors in a designer home. The fir floor joists will be shipped to China, where there's a demand for that kind of wood. This sturdy building was constructed with three layers of brick and pavers. Each one will be reclaimed and reused.

Brinker Excavating of Quincy is disassembling the school building.

The furnishings found their way into local homes at an auction. For example, the huge scoreboard from the gym is now the focal piece of my best friend's basement, where it's used to keep track of ping pong and pitch games.

It's not like all this reclamation is going to pay down much of the debt for construction costs of the new Holy Rosary School. But speaking as someone who walked those halls in my formative years, it's pretty nifty knowing that the memories engrained in all that material will live on somewhere else.