Gary’s Theodore Roosevelt High School

It's still an uphill climb to save Gary Roosevelt High School

Contributed By: The 411 News

Five years after closing, Roosevelt High School in Gary has defied the odds.

Windows are unbroken. The building’s structure does not show deterioration or signs of vandalism. It has escaped the fate dealt to dozens of other closed school buildings in the city – eyesores that needed demolition.

In March of 2019, the future of their high school alma mater was on the minds of alumni meeting at the Gary Public Library. Roosevelt had closed in February because the heating system failed and repair was unlikely. Students had been moved to the Gary Career Center.

The Gary Community School Corporation was under state control, managed by Indiana’s Distressed Unit Appeal Board because the district couldn’t pay its bills.

And alumni knew the state wouldn’t pay an estimated repair cost of at least $10 million for a building that was 90 years-old.

Boilers had stopped working during the polar vortex in January when below zero temperatures settled in the region for nearly 2 weeks. The buildings heating and ventilation system couldn’t take it. Pipes burst, flooding classrooms.

“What’s going to happen to our high school?” Roosevelt alumni wanted to know. They didn’t want to see it decay and vandalized like other school buildings in Gary. The National Gary Theodore Roosevelt Alumni Association needed allies.

At the GCSC Board of School Trustees meeting on November 13th, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Roosevelt High School was approved that will maintain Roosevelt’s safety for the next two years.

An outcome of the MOU could produce a reuse plan for the school and its surrounding properties, said Eunice Trotter, Director of the Black Heritage Preservation Program, a division of Indiana Landmarks.

The MOU will allow a team from Indiana Landmarks to examine and inventory the building’s contents and engage with the community on a plan for reuse.

The Gary school district promises to continue video surveillance and alarm system security. It will maintain fencing, doors and window grills. Cliff Caldwell, the district’s Director of Security has said Roosevelt hasn’t had a break-in since steel shutters were placed on the building’s ground floor windows and doors in 2023.

The utilities will be kept on and the lawn maintained. The district will also maintain property and liability insurance.

Roosevelt’s parking lot, football field and tennis courts are on land owned by the City of Gary. The MOU requires the city to maintain its property.

“We still have a hill to climb to find investors,” said Judy Mead, president of Roosevelt’s alumni association. “Indiana Landmarks and the Black Heritage Preservation Program will come in and clean it up to make the property look presentable.”

There were other allies, Mead pointed to. Support came from residents across the city to save the school that was built to serve Black families in a segregated Gary when it opened in 1929.

Mead noted that then Senator, now Gary Mayor Eddie Melton, intervened with the DUAB to allow alumni to maintain the lawns and remove debris from the grounds.

In May, Roosevelt was named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 11 Most Endangered List. The list is used by donors who want to fund nonprofits and will bring national attention to the school.


Alumni held a meeting in March 2019 at the Gary Public Library to discuss the future of Roosevelt High School

Story Posted:11/20/2024