Historic Twin Cities Elementary demolished after a century in Sand Springs
/A historic piece of Sand Springs is nearly gone as Twin Cities Elementary undergoes demolition. After sitting vacant for nearly a decade, the building is finally coming down after the Sand Springs Board of Education decided that it would be too costly to ever reopen.
Twin Cities first closed her doors in 2003 after 83 years of helping to rear young Sandites. Later that year it was reopened as the Sandite Child Development Center before being closed again in 2009 after the construction of the new Early Childhood Education Center.
Eight years later, the building is a pile of bricks--cut down just a few years shy of her centennial anniversary.
In January of 2016 the school board listed the school and its grounds for sale by owner. After the district received little market interest, Superintendent Sherry Durkee consulted with Montie Box of Montie Box Realtors and concluded that the building's last appraisal was overly generous due to substantial deterioration, mold infestation, and other problems.
Recommendations were made to the Board of Education in November of 2016 that the building be demolished with the property retained for possible district expansion in the future. In May the Board approved a $55,449.50 contract with American Demolition to raze the structure.
Robert Purser was the last principal to head the school, taking the reigns in 1998. He passed away in 2008 and his funeral service was held just two doors down from Twin Cities at Olivet Baptist Church.
Twin Cities was one of the oldest buildings still standing in Sand Springs. The former Booker T. Washington High School was demolished in 2010, leaving just two schools from the original township. Garfield STEAM Academy and the Central Ninth Grade Center are now the oldest educational facilities in Sand Springs. Garfield received a $6.5 million renovation over the summer of 2016.
