One Yazoo City citizen said he would like to begin the process to have the former Yazoo City High School deemed as a historical site.
Joe Freeman approached the Board of Mayor and Aldermen during its Monday meeting, asking for their support in pursuing a historical dedication of the former high school on Canal Street.
The building, which houses the Boys and Girls Club and the Yazoo Community Complex, is owned by the Yazoo City Municipal School District. The city of Yazoo City leases the building, and the Boys and Girls Club are involved in a sublease agreement.
“The school district didn’t have the finances to actually repair this building,” Freeman said. “In the past, the city said it had limited finances to repair it.”
Freeman said he is scheduled to speak with the school board and the Historical Preservation Board to begin the process of making the building a historical site.
Freeman said the building is historical because it was constructed in 1917 with renovations being made in 1939. He said former governor Haley Barbour and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy graduated from the high school.
“When they integrated the schools, this is where we changed the way we lived in Yazoo coming from segregation into integration,” Freeman said. “But currently that building is really looking rough. Currently the gym floor is beginning to fall in. There is mold in it. You can smell the mildew in the gym.”
Freeman asked that the city council support the efforts to designate the building as a historical site.
“I am asking for this board to assist in pushing this forward,” Freeman said. “Save this building. I don’t think we can get it done without the assistance of this board.”
