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Show W3BT & M fife $h Man f.ha tut This ray of sunshine may be symbolic of new life if a proposed sale of the Carl Winters Middle School to the city is finalized. i ' -" ' : ., , :...-, : ' " - i A new life for an historic building? by NAN CHALAT Record staff writer To look at the abandoned Carl Winters Middle School now, it is difficult to imagine how impressive im-pressive it must have been when it opened as the new Park City : High School in 1928. The building featured a 510-seat auditorium, a gymnasium gym-nasium with mezzanine seating and the most modern science laboratories available at the time. The project cost school district taxpayers $196,000 to build and 800 residents turned out to admire ad-mire their investment during the school's dedication ceremony. For 50 years thereafter, it served the district's high school students and was often pressed into service ser-vice for community dances annd fund raisers. When the present high school was built in 1977, the stately older building was used to fill a new need. It was renamed the Carl Winters Middle School after a former district superintendent and its classrooms were filled with local schoolchildren in grades 6 through 8. In 1982, however, the Treasure Mountain Middle School opened and the halls of the Carl Winters school fell silent for the first time in 54 years. Its outdated classroom configuration and inefficient inef-ficient heating system along with limited acreage were cited by the Board of Education as reasons for retiring the old building from active duty. The building has been empty, except for occasional inspectors and frequent vandals, ever since. Frozen pipes, ceiling leaks, snow melt and broken windows have worked their destruction on the once-handsome interior. But, according to recent reports from the school district and the Park City Council (see accompanying story), the' Carl Winters Middle School may soon receive a new lease on life. If the two entities are able to reach an agreement, the old building may once again become a center for learning. "A number of people are interested in-terested in exploring its possible use as a community college and as an arts and sciences institute," in-stitute," said school district superintendent Tony Mitchell. |