Springfield has in many ways abandoned the northside. Don't let Robberson be next.
It is with dismay that I learn that the Springfield school district is seeking to close Robberson Elementary School. I understand that residents and teachers of the district and even parents not living in the district have presented strong arguments for keeping the school. I would like to endorse their positions but I have a further one that to me, a non-parent resident of Springfield, is equally important. That is to preserve the historic and impressive building and to help stabilize the neighborhood rather than further contribute to its marginalization and deterioration.
I grew up on the northside and am a graduate of Robberson, Reed Junior High and Hillcrest High. But it is not for sentimental reasons that I feel strongly about this issue. I have recently returned to Springfield to live after over 60 years absence. Visiting periodically over the decades I was greatly concerned about the decline of the city as I knew it growing up, especially the area north of Commercial Street. I have been impressed by the city's attempt in the last twenty years or so to save and reverse the decline, to some extent, of the downtown area, even if sadly, one might say "too little too late." Attempts at renewal seem to stop at Commercial. Beyond that the northside that I knew seems to have been abandoned by public and private interests and descended into neglect, resulting in one of the most crime-ridden areas of the state. Perhaps "abandoned" is not the correct word; conscious acceptance of the creation of a sort of poverty ghetto might be more accurate.
The almost total lack of concern for the area as far as I can see has been reinforced by conscious decisions of public authorities, including it now seems, by the Board of Education. I was shocked the very month I moved back to Springfield to find that Reed Junior High had not only been closed but the substantial building was being demolished almost overnight. Robberson, one of the few remaining structures of any historical and architectural interest beyond Commercial Street, now may be confronted with the same fate. To be replaced by what? Another tawdry Kearney Street strip mall, an industrial parking lot for Hiland Dairy (much as I love their products), or a junky auto body shop? Is the board's short-sighted consideration focused on the value of the land on busy Kearney Street that can be "retrieved" and used for other purposes, without regard or appreciation for those who built up and lived in the area over the years? I do not know if any members of the board live or grew up on the northside but I do fear they all have little or no interest in it.
The "experts" the board consulted give as the reason for abandoning Robberson the fact that the building is not fully used and students should be distributed to other schools. The logic in this escapes me, as adding to the Robberson district would not be any more disruptive than forcing the present students there to go to those other schools. In any case, neither the building nor the social structure of the neighborhood seems to have been considered at all.
The Robberson building and playgrounds were always used for a variety of purposes in addition to classrooms — neighborhood recreation, fairs, social, political and even religious activities (I remember summer tent services being held there). With some cooperation between the city and other authorities already greater use could be made of the premises. If the ill-advised determination of the board to dump the elementary school cannot be stopped, surely other uses of the impressive building, now nearly unique for the area, could be found — a recreational and social center for the neighborhood could be established, an anchor to help prevent the further slide into social and physical crumbling. The gym and grounds even now could be used as a sort of neighborhood boys' and girls' club.
The school board may argue that social preservation is not its primary role. That may be. But neither can it just wash its hands of the secondary results of its actions. It takes all institutions with agency, public and private, to save a city from backsliding. And the board has primary responsibility in this case to take into account what collateral results its decisions can cause and to seek solutions.
For most of the 60 years I was gone from Springfield I lived in Western Europe. Americans, including Springfieldians — at least those living further south in town or beyond in the county, who have the resources to do so — regularly travel to Europe to enjoy the architecture, stroll the pleasant neighborhoods, and enjoy the relative absence of crime. I never saw an area in my adopted homes fall so far and fast as the area I grew up in. I lived in Belgium and elsewhere for some time before I realized that physical preservation and social coherence were not unrelated and neither did they just happen. It is against the city regulations in most European cities to demolish any building without extremely good cause and a clear and feasible plan for replacing it if not; usually, for renovation and reuse. In Europe such buildings and neighborhoods didn't just accidentally survive. They were constantly protected and renewed. A building like Robberson Elementary (or, alas, Reed before it) could rarely be torn down in any part of town. Relics of a former age, practically Victorian in Robberson's case, would be sought out and preserved for new uses and for visits, ironically, not least, by American tourists. And any authority, public or private, which sought to destroy them would face not just public outcry but perhaps large fines or even arrest.
In my senior year at Hillcrest I overheard some parents from another part of town who were there for some inter-school event remark, "Well, we better get going. It's starting to get dark. After all, this IS the northside!" The remark was ridiculous then. But such thinking seems over the decades to have contributed to an attitude of abandonment of parts of town.
In short, besides the well-justified defense of Robberson by parents and teachers for its unique educational value, ways should be found for preservation and use of the board's — and Springfield's — limited and shrinking physical patrimony. And at the same time take the social impact on the area into account. The best choice would be to preserve it as a school.
Jim Wilson lives in Springfield.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Robberson school is part of northside social fabric. Preserve it.
