By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
ROANN – The old Roann school will soon be a memory.
The hundreds of students who attended classes there will share stories of events that happened decades ago.
Those who didn’t attend classes, can still get a glimpse of what life was like back then, thanks to a collection of memorabilia housed at the Roann-Paw Paw Township Public Library.
A trophy case to the left of the library’s main entrance is home to several trophies various teams from the school won over the years.
“The case is from the school,” Library Director Joy Harber told The Paper of Wabash County.
On the walls along a back staircase leading to the Indiana Room are four large photographs of the school’s basketball teams.
“I’ve got some other ones of that size that we just don’t have room for,” Harber said. “They are in the storage room.
“You like to take the stuff, but you’ve got to house it somehow.”
The Indiana Room, located on the library’s ground floor, is where the majority of the collection is stored.
“We’ve got the senior pictures,” Harber said, flipping through hanging frames that each house groups of photos of the senior classes up to 1962 when the school closed. “We have all of those. They used to be in frames (in the hallway).
“I think we’ve got all the yearbooks.”
The library also has about 20 8×10 framed photos of various basketball teams – including two girls teams – from throughout the years.
Harber said plans are to hang them on a wall in the Indiana Room.
“I’ve even got the old pump used to pump up the basketballs,” she said. “I don’t have it on display. But I thought it would be cool to get an old basketball and put it in a display case.”
She said with the pending demolition of the school, she has seen an increase in the public’s interest in the school’s history.
During the annual alumni banquet, former students also come down to the library to see a display Harber created, complete with letter jackets and letter sweaters.