‘The memories are wonderful’: Former Page Park School in Rockford razed
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Demolition is underway at the former Page Park School, which operated on the city’s northwest end for more than five decades before closing in 2013.
The school opened in 1960, initially serving as an auxiliary building for the overcrowded former Whig Hill School, according to the Local History Room researchers at the Rockford Public Library. It became a school for special needs students in 1966.
The first section of the building was a “one hallway country school,” which later added a pool and gym, said Gail Zahm, who taught at Page Park for nine years before retiring in 2005.
“The memories are wonderful from there,” said Zahm, who is 81.
Among her fondest recollections were the annual Christmas and Halloween parades and the formation of the school’s basketball team, which brought special needs students with higher ability levels to compete against their peers around the county.
“It was fun because we could take the other kids to see the basketball games, and they were excited about seeing it, too,” she said.
The school, located at 5949 Safford Road, was most recently rented by the Regional Office of Education as an alternative learning site.
Pick up a brick
Zahm said she plans to get one of the bricks from the school building when they’re laid out as keepsakes on Monday morning. A limited number of bricks will be placed outside the building to be picked up on a first-come, first-served basis.
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The district also plans to raze the former Stiles Elementary School, 315 LaClede Ave., which closed after the 2010-11 school year along with a handful of others as part of a Rockford Public Schools realignment for efficiency.
Demolition is expected to begin in January at Stiles.
The Rockford School Board on Nov. 9 awarded the demolition work for both former school sites to Northern Illinois Service Co. for $329,790.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.
