When Lincoln school board members voted in March 1977 to close Whittier Junior High School, current and former students likely wondered what would happen to their alma mater.
KEVIN ABOUREZK / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, January 30, 2009 12:00 am
When Lincoln school board members voted in March 1977 to close Whittier Junior High School, current and former students likely wondered what would happen to their alma mater.
This week, some of the school’s alumni may have seen a curious nighttime sight at the school at 22nd and Vine streets: lights.
On Wednesday, Commonwealth Electric switched on temporary lights at the school as part of a $23.75 million renovation of the school by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“That whole building was lit up like it was being used, which was kind of neat,” said Nick Cole, manager of construction services for Commonwealth.
In June 2007, NU regents approved plans to renovate Whittier into a state-of-the-art child care and research facility.
Work began in September and will include renovation of 73,000 square feet of the three-story main building for research space, with heating, air conditioning, new windows and modern infrastructure.
So far, UNL plans to move at least two programs to Whittier: the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research; and the Nebraska Transportation Center, said Paul Couture, manager of architecture and engineering services for UNL.
An additional 28,000 square feet will be renovated for research space. While the school’s gym and auditorium are not being renovated, workers are cleaning up those areas, Couture said.
“That’s for the future,” he said.
A smaller building just to the north will be used for child care for UNL students and will include space for 150 children, he said.
Couture said work on the research space is expected to be completed by February 2010, while work on the child care facility should be done by August.
Sampson Construction is the general contractor on the project. Commonwealth Electric is completing the electrical work.
Cole, of Commonwealth, said it’s been challenging installing an electrical system at Whittier, which has 18-inch-thick foundation walls.
“They don’t make them like that anymore,” he said.
Whittier, completed in 1923, was the first building in the U.S. constructed specifically for a junior high school.
One Lincoln man in particularly is happy to see work being done on his old school.
Herb Stortz served as Whittier’s last principal before it closed in 1977.
He visited the school about three weeks ago hoping to take a tour but was told he needed to get permission because of the construction. He still hopes to tour the old building.
“I had planned on going back over there,” he said.
Stortz started as a teacher at Whittier in 1956 before becoming assistant principal in 1970 and principal five years after that.
He stayed on after it closed as a junior high school, working for a multi-handicapped program and an alternative school that moved into the building. The alternative school later became Bryan Community School, he said.
In 1980, when LPS finally closed the building, Stortz left.
But he said he has kept an eye on Whittier ever since, wondering what would happen to the imposing brick building on Vine Street.
“It was a good place for a lot of kids to go to school,” he said. “It’s nice to see that eventually it’s going to be put to good use.”
Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.