City leaders taking steps to preserve future of Furlow Grammar School in Americus

AMERICUS, Ga. (WALB) - The future of the historic Furlow Grammar School in Americus is still undetermined, but that doesn’t mean city officials and local preservationists aren’t taking steps now to preserve the rich history of this building.

This building has been a school site since 1859. It’s a few blocks away from the center of Downtown Americus, which has been undergoing significant revitalization. Local preservationists hope to tackle the Furlow Grammar School at some point.

The original building was first used as a female-only college in 1879. Then it was the city’s first public school in 1880, which was demolished to create the current building in 1914. The Board of Sumter Historic Trust is designed to preserve historic buildings like this one.

“This is inside the historic District, but that is, you know, we approve alterations to the exteriors of buildings in the historic District,” Charles Crisp, Sumter Historic Trust board member, said.

The building is currently owned by the city of Americus. They have their own preservation commission and ordinances.

WALB reached out to the Americus city manager about any future plans for the school site, and they responded quote, “Currently, we do not have any plans for the location of the former Furlow Training School.”

“We hope, with our other positive developments that we are seeing within blocks of here, that this will make this more attractive for others. We would hate to lose this; it’s a pretty significant historic building,” Crisp said.

Furlow Grammar School is part of the history of Americus, and something many local residents would like to see saved.

According to local leaders, while the condition of the building is undeniably bad, they think it’s still salvageable.

“It needs to have something done with it. The building a lot of the interior at this point is probably lost, but the exterior walls are solid. It can have something to done with it,” Crisp said.

WALB also reached out to the city manager about any possibilities for the site’s future, and they said in a statement, quote, “Currently, we do not have any plans for the location of the former Furlow Training School.”

“I would hate to see it demolished because eventually, the building gets in such bad shape that you don’t have any choice. I don’t think that it’s there just yet, but it’s on the way,” Crisp said.

According to the Board for Sumter Historic Trust, they hope this building could become something that would generate revenue, or be used for additional housing.

“People seem to like this sort of thing. We certainly see not just here but you go anywhere in the state, there is a revival of interest in downtowns, and a revival of interest in old residential sections,” Crisp said.

Copyright 2023 WALB. All rights reserved.