Former Wells School converted into the Canton School of Fame event center

CANTON − Once a boarded-up elementary building, Wells School has been reborn as an event center with boutique guest rooms.

And it’s now open for business as the Canton School of Fame.

Gary Gergley, who has been renovating the century-old former school at 617 McKinley Ave. SW for the past four years, recently received a city-approved occupancy permit, allowing him to rent out the school’s gymnasium and 16 guest rooms.

Recent guests have included the USFL’s Pittsburgh Maulers team, a business hosting an employee retreat and the nonprofit group, Walking With A Purpose, which brought children back to the building for the first time in 20 years as part of the organization’s three-day Youth Expo.

“I love it. It’s beyond my expectations,” Gergley said.

The Canton Repository has followed the renovation of the 45,000-square-foot former school since Gergley’s daughter, Kynsey Koch, purchased the three-story brick school in February 2019 for $35,000 with plans to convert it into her home and office and a community hub. Gergley, 63, who had been living in Zoar, took over the project when his daughter got married and moved to South Carolina.

In the Repository’s latest visit, Gergley gave a tour of the renovated guest rooms and event space, as well as the unfinished third floor and areas still under construction.

Here are five things to know about the transformation:

1. Gergley has invested roughly $700,000 in the renovations so far.

The school building, most of which was built in 1926, served thousands of elementary school children and other Canton City school education programs until the 1980s when school administrators and staff converted the classrooms and gymnasium into offices. The school district moved its offices in 2008, and the building has sat empty since the building and its contents were sold at an auction in 2011.

“In my opinion, they destroyed the building,” Gergley said, “because they glued, stapled, carpeted and took these big rooms and made them into four smaller ones. … The first two years were just tear out.”

Workers have removed the partitions that created four office spaces per classroom, knocked down the 45,000 square feet of drop ceilings to reveal the original 10-foot ceilings and pulled up the carpet and the thousands of staples to reveal the building’s original wood floors. Gergley estimates that it takes workers two weeks to get one classroom floor restored.

Trash from trespassers, graffiti, broken windows and asbestos also have been removed. Walls have been rebuilt, 3,000 new windowpanes have been installed and technology, such as a security system and wireless internet, have been added.

Gergley said he's kept costs manageable by completing much of the work without contractors and by visiting auctions and antique shops for the furniture and decor. For example, he purchased a chandelier that retails for $10,000 for only $1,200 because he was able to rig up a way to haul it home from New York.

2. Neighbors have pitched in.

Gergley also has saved money by employing people from the surrounding neighborhoods to help with various jobs, from yard work and cleaning to installing tile and creating a new handrail.

“Working with the local people here has probably been the best,” said Gergley. “I lived in a very noncultural area, so getting to know people in the hood has been great. A thief one day could be a buddy of mine the next day.”

Gergley estimates that he’s hired 30 people from the neighborhood, sometimes recruiting them from McKinley Park, which is located across the street.

Among them is Howard Turner, who became Gergley's first worker when he approached Gergley in March 2019 about a possible job. Turner still works there.

Crystal Daugherty, who lives two miles down the road, was working at the school on the day of the Repository’s tour. When asked for her thoughts about the renovation, she said, “It is amazing, it really is amazing.”

Besides giving them money for their work, Gergley also bought seven workers a car, helped four of them get their driver’s licenses and has allowed them to stay in the building when they didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Gergley said the workers also help keep an eye on the property when he’s away and deter any potential problems. Canton City police incident reports show the address, which typically had at least one or two calls about break-ins a year, hasn’t had a call since 2020.

“There has been zero crime in this two-block area,” Gergley said. “I haven’t had any problems whatsoever.”

3. Sleep in the Detention Center, get married in the gym and play foosball in the library.

The school’s gymnasium now serves as an event center that can accommodate up to 300 guests. It has a full stage that sits opposite a wall of wooden folding chairs.

Gergley hopes to host a range of events, from weddings to charity fundraisers, and business retreats to live music.

“This is a nice venue because most venues are 80 people or 100 people at a bar or are like the Palace that are 1,000 or 1,200, so this is that in-between venue,” he said.

Visitors also can rent the first and second floor of the school, which houses its 16 guest rooms, meeting spaces, kitchen, game room and bathrooms.

Many of the spaces are labeled with a school theme, such as the Detention Center, Guidance Counselor’s Office and Teacher’s Lounge. Gergley operates his business, American National Insurance, in the room labeled the Principal’s Office, and has photos of employees displayed in the hallway under the title Honor Roll.

The guest are roughly 900 square feet apiece, and easily fit two queen beds, dressers and a seating area. Some are equipped with whiteboards for business meetings. Some have flat-screen TVs.

One bedroom has its own private full bathroom. Other rooms must rely on the bathrooms located in the hallways that have multiple toilet stalls – similar to a school bathroom – and are labeled “boys” and “girls” on the door.Guests have access to a full kitchen for cooking and a washer and dryer. Multiple classrooms were combined to create a library that serves as a game room and lounge. It boasts a pool table, air hockey table, foosball, a wooden bar and a former cafeteria serving station, which can be used to hold ice and beverages.

4. Much of the décor and furnishings aren’t from Wells School.

The chalkboards in some of the guest rooms are original to the building. You also can see the building’s blueprints hung in the library. The Wells School name on the outside of the building will remain.

But most of the building’s furnishings were removed long ago or were no longer salvageable, Gergley said.

To add more of the school’s history back into the building. Gergley is seeking class photos so he can dedicate a hallway to the alumni of Wells School.  Anyone with a class photo is asked to contact Robin Muntean, the owner of Arcadia Grille, through the restaurant’s Facebook page, or drop off a photo at the Arcadia Grill at 321 Court Ave NW.

Besides the eclectic mix of antique and thrift finds, you’ll also see some pieces from Gergley’s childhood. For example, the encyclopedias on the library’s bookshelf are the books his father bought more than 50 years ago from a door-to-door salesman. Some of the portraits on the wall are of him and his relatives. The awards in the trophy case all have the last name of Gergley on them.

5. Renovations will continue.

Even though the spaces are now available to rent, Gergley still has many more improvements planned, such as air conditioning in every guest room, a 30-foot movie screen for the event center stage and privacy dividers between different sections of the building so they can be rented independently.

The school’s original cafeteria remains his workshop, full of construction equipment and scraps, and the third floor, which will become Gergley’s apartment, remains unfinished.

Beyond the building, Gergley wants to make the neighborhood surrounding it more attractive, especially McKinley Park. He wants to approach the city of Canton about donating some lights he bought from the Cleveland Flats to help illuminate the park at night and to talk about other ways to make it more inviting.

More information about the Canton School of Fame is available at cantonschooloffame.com. Reservations can also be made by calling Gary Gergley at 330-705-0584.

Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Former Wells Elementary is now the Canton School of Fame event center