Miller School Park

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

This small park is located at the former site of Miller School, an elementary school located in the Southside neighborhood of Huntington that was constructed in 1915. The school operated until 2006 when the decision was made to demolish the structure and build the combined Southside Elementary and Huntington Middle School building at 10th Ave and 2nd street. The building was demolished in 2010 and the space was converted to a small park for the neighborhood that incorporates several portions of the historic school facade and a memorial to victims of school shootings.

Images

Miller School

Hallway in Miller School

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Miller Elementary school was built in 1915 and served the residents of Huntington's Southside neighborhood. Southside was one of Huntington's original neighborhoods which provided homes to many of the employees of the city's steel mills. Miller School had as many as 400 students in the 1980s. This number declined to 146 in 2005-06, the year before the school was combined with Cammack Elementary School to form Southside Elementary which is located a few blocks away on 2nd St.

After closing, the school was demolished in 2010. The Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District purchased the space from the Cabell County Board of Education in June 2012. There was considerable debate on what to do with the resulting space. It was decided to leave much of the area as a green space for local youth sports. A small portion was set aside to honor those killed at the Sandy Hook school shooting in Sandy Hook Connecticut.

Sources

Chambers, Bryan . Construction begins on Miller School Park, September 11th 2013. Accessed December 11th 2020. https://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/recent_news/construction-begins-on-miller-school-park/article_9b962e18-1a5f-5ea7-9b0d-fc863bb0c1bb.html.

Casto, James. Lost Huntington: Miller School, June 18th 2018. Accessed December 11th 2020. https://www.herald-dispatch.com/special/lost_huntington/lost-huntington-miller-school/article_883c8afb-7580-52a6-a719-144ce04b5559.html.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Herald-Dispatch file photo

Cabell Schools - https://www.cabellschools.com/Miller.aspx