A piece of history — part of the former Sewickley Township Junior-Senior High School, which was being used as a community recreation center — is facing the wrecking ball.

The demolition of the building in Herminie will be advertised for bids once the documents for Westmoreland County’s $75,000 allocation for the project are finalized, said Halle Chatfield, senior project manager for the county Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank.

A demolition contractor typically has about 75 days to complete the work, Chatfield said.

County commissioners this month approved funding to raze the building at 200 Highland Ave., which has been closed since February after a crack was discovered in a wall and the structure was deemed unsafe.

If the demolition costs are greater than $75,000, the township will cover the remainder of the cost with money from the $1.6 million sale of its municipal authority, said supervisor Mark Petros.

Prior to the decision to demolish the building, a structural engineer estimated that it could cost between $250,000 and $275,000 to repair the crack and stabilize the wall, Petros said. To make other necessary repairs to the roof, remove the asbestos in the building and bring it into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act would have been much more costly, Petros said.

The building was constructed in 1943 by the Works Progress Administration, an infrastructure program during President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, according to John Wilson’s “History of Sewickley Township and Sutersville.” The building housed a gymnasium, music room and workshop and was adjacent to the former Sewickley Township Junior-Senior High School, which housed classrooms.

Once the building is demolished, Petros said he would like to see the township construct a recreation center/community center at the site.

Proceeds from the municipal authority sale could fund the project, he noted.

The building not only housed the recreation center when it closed, but the Sewickley Township Public Library was operating in the basement. Library officials scrambled to find an alternative site, eventually setting up shop in the former municipal authority office in Herminie.

The library board has plans to construct a permanent location on property at the nearby H.W. Good Elementary School.

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