We visited the Franklin Middle School campus today; the AISD board considered demolition contracts yesterday so that a new elementary school can be built on the site. Putting our hard-core preservation hat aside for awhile*, we went over to do a survey of what might exist there that would have meaning for the thousands who attended Franklin over the years since it was built as North Junior High during World War II.

One of our APL members had brought up the question of what will happen to some of the memorable items at Franklin. The AISD archives hopefully have saved some of the history of the school. Our member was wondering about some of the small items, such as a cutout Bronco that was part of the sign. There’s also a plywood logo with another Bronco over the west entrance. It’s not in great shape, but hopefully it can be restored and preserved somehow. In the cafeteria/auditorium there is a colorful full size bronco painting to the left of the stage. We couldn’t get a good photo of it due to reflections.

The cutout over the sign looks like metal, but may need to be redone, because it looks like it might de-laminate before too long without some paint on it. But the peeling surface does look kinda cool in an antique sort of way.

If you would like to somehow help save some of these Franklin items, let us know.

*And when we do put our preservation hat on again, it makes us say, “why would we want to tear down this building and send the materials to the landfill and then build a new one that won’t last nearly as long?”

Just a thought.