Feature article

Groundbreaking Ceremonies for three new schools

Article and photos by Nema Brewer-Candy
May 10, 2007

In December of 2002 the Fayette County Board of Education approved the construction of a new school to replace Julia R. Ewan Elementary. The land for the facility was gifted by the Madden family to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and we are grateful to the city for working with us to make the land available for a school.

In April 2007, a naming committee made up of community members, teachers, parents and district administrators recommended naming the school "Liberty Elementary" in honor of the founding principle on which our country was established and for the area the school is located.

The school has been designed by EOP Architects and will be constructed by D.W. Wilburn Inc. at a cost of $14.5 million.

View a slideshow of the groundbreaking ceremony for Liberty Elementary.

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In December of 2002, the Fayette County Board of Education approved plans to construct a new school to replace Linlee Elementary.

In April 2007, a naming committee made up of community members, teachers, parents and district administrators recommended naming the school "Sandersville Elementary " in honor of the area where the school is located and the former thriving cotton-woolen mill community of Sandersville, which was vital to the development of Lexington.

The school has been designed by Clotfelter-Samokar Inc. and will be constructed by D.W. Wilburn Inc. at a cost of $17.5 million.

View a slideshow of the groundbreaking ceremony for Sandersville Elementary.

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In December of 2002, The Fayette County Board of Education approved plans to construct a new school to replace Johnson Elementary and the now-closed Russell Elementary.

In April 2007, a naming committee made up of community members, teachers, parents, and district administrators recommended naming the school “William Wells Brown Elementary” in honor of Lexington-born William Wells Brown, the first African-American to publish a novel, a play, a travel book, a book-length historical account of the Civil War, a military study and a study of African-American sociology. A practicing physician, he advocated prison reform, temperance and equal rights for women and was a dynamic spokesman for the abolitionist movement.

The school has been designed by Tate Hill Jacobs Architects and will be constructed by Alliance Corp. at a cost of $15 million.

View a slideshow of the groundbreaking ceremony for William Wells Brown Elementary.

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