Workers discover hidden history
A chance discovery in the woods behind Jordan High School has turned up a mystery of sizeable proportions – literally.
While cleaning some of the garbage and brush out of the woods behind the school, maintenance workers at the high school discovered an ornamental stone, dating back to as early as 1897, from the former Jordan High School along Varner Street that was gutted by a March 7, 1920 fire.
District Maintenance Director Tom Voigt said workers discovered the stone earlier this month while cleaning the woods behind Jordan high and elementary schools. They brought a Bobcat back into the woods to bring out the massive block of Jordan sandstone – about 8 feet long, 1 foot wide and 1 foot thick.
'It was in three pieces,' Voigt said. 'We got it back together the best that we could.'
The stone clearly reads 'Jordan High School' and has the date sometime in the 1890s, although the last number has broken off the stone.
'It's really cool,' Voigt said. 'You can read the letters. The letters are as crystal clear as can be.
'I would have to assume it was from the school that burnt down in the early 1900s. The question is, how did it get there?'
According to a March 11, 1920, edition of the Jordan Independent:
'Fire of mysterious origin broke out in the attic of the Jordan public school building about half past ten o'clock, Sunday morning and before it was checked, some three hours later, had wrought havoc to the handsome building, causing a loss estimated at $40,000. The insurance carried totals of $18,500. Spontaneous combustion is the only way known to explain how the fire started.'
After the former high school burned down in 1920, a new school was built on the site. That school was used until 1979, when the high school moved into the building that is now Jordan Middle School along Sunset Drive.
While he attended the new school on the Varner site, Voigt said he didn't remember ever seeing the stone there. He said he talked to Dave Worm, a custodian at the elementary school. Worm told Voigt he remembered seeing the stone at the old school but also has no idea how it came to rest in the woods behind the new high school, which wasn't built until 2004.
'If anyone knows how it got there, we want to know,' Voigt said. 'There's all sorts of possibilities.'
In the meantime, Voigt said he's also looking for advice from area residents on how to restore or repair the stone, which is cracked in three places.
'We have to figure out how we're going to cement it together,' he said. 'If we have anybody who knows how to piece back together, that would help.'
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