Grant Elementary School in Wausau, WI. MWC file photo
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – Grant Elementary held an open house on Thursday night for current and former teachers, students, and faculty members as the over-100-year-old school prepares to permanently close its doors at the conclusion of the current school year.
The school, which opened in 1920 and is named after Union Army general and 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, led attendees on a tour of the school’s past and future, seeing the school’s original brick fireplace one last time and unveiling a time capsule built by wood shop students at Wausau West that current students and teachers will fill with trophies, class photos, and favorite memories before it is buried on the Jefferson Elementary grounds until the year 2050.
While speaking with WSAU, 4th-grade teacher Sherri Fochs says the decision to close is bittersweet, but the event had its nice moments as well, saying, “Some of our families have been here forever, and now their kids are attending. In fact, we even have some employees who were my students and are now working here, so that part makes it a little sad, but it’s really awesome that we get to open this up to the public… I mean, we have somebody coming tonight who is 103 years old, and she attended school here, so that’s pretty awesome, so I’m glad we get to share one final goodbye with everybody.”
Grant Elementary, which was designated as a historic landmark by the Wausau City Council in 2021, is one of three Wausau School District schools closing this year, along with Texas-Hewitt and Hawthorn Hills, due to declining enrollment and a lack of funding. Grant Elementary students and teachers will move to Jefferson Elementary in the fall as part of the district’s consolidation plan.
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