Jesus. I went to kindergarten there. Miss Hanson was the teacher. And the skating rink. Many a memorable afternoon and evening spent there. The smell of wool gloves on the warming shack stove. Chasing girls around the rink, nabbing their hats. The excruciating pain of my feet thawing out in my skates. All great memories. All gone now. Thanks for posting the pictures.

I went to this school for K-2nd grade before moving away. Every time I've been in Duluth I wanted to go walk through the old school, it was such an awesome building. I too have many memories of my years there. I happened to be here to see them start the demolition and I was very saddened at the thought I'll never get my chance to tour the building one more time. The guy working the hose was nice enough to give me a brick from the building to take home to TX with me.

No need to worry. All the old school buildings that are being torn down are (or were) gone through for salvageable materials.

From what I heard a "select" group of people were invited to salvage/take what they wanted. I guess they did not see the value in the doors and lockers. Such a loss.

Umm, Jay. I hope that's sarcasm, because I'm standing in front of the school right now, and I see so many salvageable things and materials. It's very sad and very frustrating. I wonder if the hose guy would give me three or four of those awesome lockers?

Is it still standing? Shall we organize a midnight raiding party? I want flooring!

I think tearing down old buildings that are structurally sound should be banned.  It is such a waste of resources and the buildings that replace them are not built to the same standards and will not last as long.  It is shortsightedness and greed that created the RED PLAN and it is the school board and Keith Dixon that are primarily responsible for this mess.  But, even if the building HAD to go (which it didn't), it should have been responsibly de-constructed and as much of it salvaged as possible.  Obviously this was not done, or, not done well.  I drove past on the day they were tearing it down and noticed lots of people standing on the sidewalk watching - many kids were there too - the reality is that the dust from this building contains lead and asbestos and even though they were wetting it down with a hose, there is no way that they could contain all that dust.  I cannot believe that the neighborhood was not advised of the risk and that people were not kept at a safe distance.  There are other schools closing, it's not to late to try and make sure the same mistakes are not made with those buildings.

I went to school here K-4th grade, and sometimes I still have the Lester Park Elementary "underwear dream." Sigh. It is depressing to hear that the lockers and other salvageable materials weren't extracted. Especially when vintage lockers sell for $75 to $200 in the open market, vintage doors make great bars, and vintage windows make such amazing room dividers. All in all, in just lockers alone, the school system could've at least held an auction to raise money for school supplies or something. What a waste.