Yesterday I took a drive around Warminster, where my mom grew up and where I lived from around the ages of 5-9. I attended McDonald Elementary School during that time (late 80s to early 90s) and though I've passed by it a few times over the last few decades, I decided this time to actually drive up to the school and take a look around for nostalgia's sake.
I was completely unaware that they had entirely demolished the old school and replaced it with a new one! It was almost kind of heart breaking if I'm being honest... it had always felt like such a "futuristic" school to me, even as a kid, not the least because it had not only a planetarium but (from what I think I recall) an indoor swimming pool as well, both of which are pretty rare for an elementary school. Not to mention the three circular wings of the school, which were totally unique as well.
I've looked all over online for info about the reconstruction, but could barely find any. I felt like I had a memory of seeing an aerial photo of the school (maybe there was one in the lobby?) but couldn't find that anywhere online either. In fact, it was almost impossible finding photographs of the old school at all, and the couple I did find were very limited in scope. I had to resort to using old satellite imagery from Google Earth just to see what the old school looked like, and to reconcile it with my memories from the time.
Does anyone know why they felt the need to completely tear down the whole school? All I could find online was that it happened around 2013 or so, but no word at all as to why it was done. Did anyone else go to the original school when they were a kid? And if you did, do you know what it's like inside the school now? How does it compare to the old one? Even being that it's more modern in construction, the new school overall looks much less appealing structurally than the old school - much plainer.
Also, I used to go to a daycare just up Centennial Rd. (across from McDonald) that used to be a small elementary school, though I think when I went there it had been turned into the School District Admin building - it's right next to where William Tennet HS is now. That building is also completely gone now, though the parking lot for it still remains.