We received the frantic phone call from my brother a few weeks ago. It was about noontime on a Thursday. “Drop everything and come quick,” he said. He told us an old school was being torn down and the wrecking ball was scheduled to commence work on the following Monday. We had until then to salvage everything we could.
Of course, you know us. We could not resist. We rearranged our lives, postponing other things we had scheduled, quickly boarded our dogs, and hit the road.
We drove the 5 hours to the tiny town of Archer City, Texas — the same small town where Larry McMurtry’s, “The Last Picture Show” was filmed and where he owned some bookstores for a time. We stayed there two days and were able to salvage a (very) full trailer load, so full in fact, that I don’t think our trailer could have held another stick of lumber.
We were able to salvage 380 square feet of quarter-sawn longleaf pine flooring in great condition. The boards were salvaged from the stage floor and are covered in a high-gloss polyurethane. The floors could be sanded down quite easily or left “as is”. I love all of the “age spots”, the nicks and scratches that come with time.
We also brought home 275 square feet of off-white V-groove boards that were installed at the back of the school’s stage and dressing rooms. Except for the color, the lumber is identical to what we installed on the ceiling in our guest bedroom.
We also brought home some unusual-sized doors. They were mounted on the wall and flipped open using hinges at the top. Think of old concession stands and you’ll probably know what I’m talking about.
As shown in the above two photos, they’re painted on one side and stained on the other.
Despite making a good haul, there was still tons of materials left to salvage. The building was just too big to do it all in a few days. Heck, even a month there would not have been enough time.
The good news is that my brother worked all weekend and tells me that he was able to salvage more old doors, more V-groove boards, some lockers, old chalkboards, and two skylights.
If you’re interested in buying any of the above, please email me!
Good morning Kim. I would love to come from Georgia to purchase some of these materials. I have searched this state, Florida and Alabama. Please let me know ASAP. Please let me know how to contact you.
Thank you for your consideration, Hope
Hope, that would be fantastic! You can contact us here: https://www.livingvintageco.com/contact-us/.
How sad to see that school torn down, even worse seeing in this time n age there isn’t a larger group salvaging materials. Just salvaging that brink would net you enough to build a small “Tiny House” Village and I can only imagine what went to the trash bin before the demo….
I’m glad you were able to salvage what you did, Kim. I salvaged a few cabinet doors and music stands when my old grade school was torn down. Those with keys already stripped all the wood clocks and fun stuff. What a shame that everything isn’t saved to repurpose someplace else!
I’m always sad when I hear of a building being torn down before the good parts of it can be salvaged. I’m glad you were able to get what you did and your brother-in-law too. What a waste of perfectly good material – don’t they know people want that stuff?
Boy did you luck up!! Real wood with a history is so much better than lamanite flooring. I admire your willingness to preserve the past memories. Good job!
Yay! So glad you were able to strike some gold on your venture. You have an awesome haul there.
Such a spectacular find! It makes me sad to see that this school is being demolished! In Palestine (TX), we have the old school turned into the Museum of East Texas Culture and the old Rusk School which has been reborn into the coolest ACE Hardware I have ever seen! Archer City will always have character regardless of how many new buildings are built. But when you remove the old ones, sadly you lose a wonderful sense of history that will lie eternally with the people who remember it. I love the classic “The Last Picture Show”. Not many people can say they have seen it let alone more than once! It was one of the best films ever. Partly for its cinematic style and partly because of the story of life in a small town. I envy that you were able to reclaim materials from such a place. As we progress closer to getting to Palestine full time, I can tell you, we will be looking for materials for that “Railroad House” you almost bought! Thanks so much for sharing this!
We just don’t realize how many of these old buildings are just being bulldozed, I’m so glad there are people like you and your family who help to reclaim some of these things before they are gone for good.
Great find! It’s always nice and fulfilling in its own way to take something others saw as “garbage” and make something magnificent like this. Thanks for sharing!
OMG! I hope that entire school becomes salvaged. Makes me cry when building materials are thrown in the trash.
It saddens and disqusts me to know that over 240 million tons of useful building materials are sent to landfills every year. I’ve read that equates to the amount of material neede to build a 30 ft tall, 30 ft wide wall around the entire continental US…every year.
Imagine how many homes could be built, how many millions of trees saved, not to mention housing the homeless. There is absolutely no excuse for this wastefulness, but greed!
I want to personally thanks you for the inspiration. About 15 minutes ago (11:30 pm, Feb. 15th, 2017) I sent my sleeping wife a text stating I seriously wanted to dedicate my life and profession to deconstructing/salvaging old homes, selling vintage/antiques, and reclaiming Old World charm and history!
So thank you and God Bless!