| twulf:"I guess since you have researched this and are so interested in protecting and restoring the "Historical District" you realize the land that McCormick sits on was originally the home of the Wellington Fairgrounds."
Yes, actually the first Wellington Independent Fair was held in 1855 on the Turner West farm in Huntington. In 1857, it moved to the area that is now McCormick Middle School (Old Union School at the time). In 1869 it moved to the current location and in 1941 it merged with the Lorain County Fair.
twulf:"I think this use of the land was very important in the history of Wellington as a farming community and one time cheese capital. If by chance this land were returned to a similar use as a community green space like it was in the 1850's, where would we be going wrong?"
Yes, the land was very important to the farming community. But in 1857 the Village of Wellington was small and the houses were few. The fair was only located on the McCormick site for ~12 years, while there has been an educational facility on the land for over 140 years. The Historic District was inventoried and added to the National Register in 1978, because of the buildings that collectively make up the district and not empty lots or green space.
From an environmental standpoint, demolishing the school just to create "green space", would not be beneficial. It would take the new 3-12 building 40-60 years of operation to even offset the environmental damage that demolishing McCormick would produce (i.e. embodied energy, landfill material, demolition energy, new 3-12 building construction energy).
As it has been mentioned before, "The greenest building is one that is already built" and renovated schools can operate just as efficiently as new buildings. In fact, many renovated historic schools and buildings have achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.
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