A milestone is being celebrated by the Remus Area Historical Society and the Friends of School Lake.

 

“We have been working on this project for going on two years and have reached our goal of $75,000 and the work is now completed.”

 

That's Society President Linda Howard who was on hand for a Donor Recognition Event on Saturday at the School Section Lake Veterans Park stone pavilion. Howard says the money raised has been used to replace the original windows that had been installed in the 1940's, repair the stonework on the building's chimneys, and...

 

“The last part of the project is the steel roof – the new roof was installed just recently, finished up this last week,” she says.

 

The structure has been inspected by licensed contractors and stone masons who say the foundation is in excellent shape and Society Board Trustee Pamela Burke says great care was taken to preserve the historical integrity of the building.

 

“The building has stood for 85 years serving the public. So, as we look up there's wainscoting with the original logs that form the roof and the stonework you can see on the interior as well as the exterior.”

 

Burke notes the current project has been a real grass roots effort involving many people and countless hours of effort. The Society has received over 500 donations, grants and gifts, held four fundraisers, and numerous raffles. And, Burke says, even though they are celebrating the completion of this project, they're not done yet.

 

“Our commitment was the exterior of the building and now the Park Board is going to be looking at the upgrades that are needed on the interior of the building.”

 

The pavilion was built in the 1930's under the Works Project Administration, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program that was signed into law during America's Great Depression. The WPA was criticized at the time as being a “hotbed of Communists.”