The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-18
NEW ACADEMY is WANTED.
MODERN SCHOOL BUILDING WOULD
COST ABOUT SI5O,OOO.

ANU FAoNftNVs
Superintendent AshmOre Talks of n
New BuiIding-It Would BE n Grent
Addition to the Beauty of Bun
Street-SbouId Contain About 40
Rooms to Relieve the Difficulty of
Insult cient Accommodations I'm
der which the Board of EducntiOn
Has Labored-COI. Mercer Believes
the old building VIII Probably he
Restored.
Chatham Academy may rise from it's own
ashes as a grand modern building for the
education of the youth of Savannah. A
general sentiment demands the erection Of
some stately edifce to replace the ruined
walls of the wing Of the old academy de-
stroyed by the hand Of some iucendiary,
the crushed and partially demolished mid
die wing and the unframed western wing
Supt. Otis Ashmore was asked yesterday
about the probable cost of such build
ing as would be desired for the lot He
said:
Such a building as would be in keeping
with the splendid location of the academy,
right ia the heart of the city and on the
most beautiful and popular street, would
cost something like $4,000. That amount
would suffice for a modern school building
large enough 10 accommodate the children
of the three schools that used the acad-
emy.
II should say the building should front
on Bull street and that the ground plans
should not cover the space on which the
old academy stood. The portion of the
old building stln standing should, in my
opinion, be torn down, though that is a
matter that architectural technique would
settle, as it might be used TO advantage
in the construction of new building
1T is possible that some arrangement
could be made by which work on a new
and handsome building might proce ed with
the remaining part of the Old Academy
stlll s.endirg. Accommodation could thus
he Afforded The pupils Of the High school,,
while the successor to the old building was
in course of construction."
Superintendent Ashmore's idea is that
the board of trustees of the Chatham
Academy might see III TO use a fund hey
have in trust for the construction of the
new building, adding to it that which they
viii receive from The insurance compan-
les. The trustees have between $4,000 and
$4,000 The Academy was insured for $40
600. The policies are understood to be of
the three-tour,hs value form. and the
trustees co rot know just what They will
get from the com anies in settl ment of
the cha m. The fund in hand and the irsur-
ance, however, might, in Superin eudent
Ashmore's opinion, constitute the nucleus
for the work, the beard financing so as to
provice for lis completion.
Col George A. Mercer. president of the
Board of Education, and member of the
hoard Of he L.,
did not believe that so extensive a buitd-
ing can be built now. With the assist
ance of the county the work could be done.
but the experience of the Board of Educa-
ton OF recent years with the County Com
missloners and the grand juries has NOT
been such as TO hold out any rosy hopes
of success If the board should go before
those bodies with request for $4,000 or
100000 for the erection of a modern school
building.
The restoration of the old building is
rather more in line with what Col Mer-
Ger anticipates as the course that will be
pursued for providing the children de-
prived Of their school rooms with new ac-
comnodations. Col. Mercer coes NOT
know that the board of trustees would
care to invest their fund In the building
as they might prefer to have the county
either build outright or make the restora-
tion. II was only by a continued effort
that Col. Mercer, who conceived the idea
induced the trustees some years ago 10 ex-
pend $4,000 Of the fund for the purchase
of the Pavilion Hotel, the present High
School building. like difficulty might
be encountered at this time of the board
of trustees We're asked to expend their
fund for building.
superintendent Ashmore believes that a
building Of from thirty-six to forty rooms,
modern in all of its appointments and con-
veuiences and perfectly fitted for school
a
TO that section of the city and a source
OF pride to the citizens, but also an infinite
relief to the Board of Education. The
board has been hampered for several years
by lack Of sufficient room for all the child
rem. An increase in the number of rooms
that were in the old Academy would admit
of the formation of other grades and the
relief OF the congestion that has existed
principally in the northern section of the
city.