В Декатере вернули исторические колонны бывшей старшей школы на место её стояния

Decatur High School pillar pieces return to former school site Organizers selected Sept. 7 for the announcement because it marks the 115th anniversary of the school building’s opening. DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – Pieces of the front pillars from the former Decatur High School have been returned to the site where the school once stood. History of the Heartland, the city of Decatur and the Decatur Civic Center will unveil the “Pillars of Remembrance” during a press conference at 2:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7, outside the Civic Center. Decatur High School, later known as Stephen Decatur High School, operated on Franklin Street from 1911 to 1975. The Civic Center now occupies the property. When the school was demolished, city workers saved pieces of its large front pillars. Six sections of the original pillars have now been placed on the Civic Center entrance plaza along Franklin Street. Two original pillar bases were placed behind the Stephen Decatur monument south of the Civic Center. The pillars were made from reddish Jacobsville sandstone quarried in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Preservation architect Stephen J. Kelly, a graduate of the school, studied the columns and their construction in 2024. Organizers selected Sept. 7 for the announcement because it marks the 115th anniversary of the school building’s opening. Ayn Owens, founder of History of the Heartland, said the project was made possible by city employees who saved, stored and recently placed the historic pieces, as well as alumni who donated toward the monument space in 1990. Copyright 2026 WAND. All rights reserved.