Class of '52 graduate bids tearful farewell to Trenton Central High School

TRENTON -- In early February, as photographers got into position to photograph Trenton Central High School's iconic clock tower tumble to the ground, Joan Mainzer gazed at her alma mater from a nearby McDonalds.

With a heavy heart, the class of 1952 graduate watched as the demolition crew erased all that was left of the red brick and limestone building that dated back to 1932.

"That was the end of an era," Mainzer said. "It was just sadness."

She sat and remembered her time there. She remembered how TCHS shaped her formative years, how it made her the person she is today and how years of neglect led to that very moment.

Mainzer was moved. So moved, she later sat down and penned a tribute to the once-proud Georgian revival styled structure that to her was high school.

Photo from the inside cover of TCHS 1952 yearbook.

"We came from five junior sending schools, entering the halls of Trenton High School with her three A-B-C buildings," the essay says.

"One can only imagine the faces of the students coming from different neighborhoods, and most not affluent, walking into what must have seemed like a palace -- beautiful marble floors, painted bright walls, shining desks and woodwork. There were many more unsuspected surprises: a magnificent Olympic-sized pool, a huge one-of-a-kind cafeteria and an auditorium that was like a theatre.

"At one time, Trenton High School was considered one of the best high schools in the country for academics and sports.

"If one graduated from Trenton High, they were accepted into almost any college," she wrote.

But, by the late 1990's the school started to sag. Property taxes were not enough to maintain the structure, nor was funding that was supposed to materialize through the state supreme court's Abbott rulings.

Mainzer, of Hamilton, watched it rot.

"For 20 years I watched the demise of the A-B-C buildings: first the peeling paint, then the cracked windows, then no windows, then the frames were gone. The roofs were crumbling; the brick became loose -- eventually falling away. The interior of the buildings had crumbling ceilings, deplorable, plumbing issues and unsafe floors. These issues were never addressed for the safety of the students."

As the building aged, Trenton residents and school officials attempted to hash out whether the school should be renovated or replaced -- and if that wasn't hard enough, they had to battle the state for funding to keep the building from falling down around the students.

First the state blew through Abbott funding while residents tried decide to rebuild or renovate. Then, under new leadership, the state withheld funding - even for emergency repairs.

In the end, a compromise was reached. There would a be new building though architects would keep iconic sections and make renovations where possible.

Then state contractors found cracks in the foundation that made the building irreparable. The entire building - longer than the Empire State Building is tall - would have to go.

Mainzer knew it too.

!952 Yearbook photo showing TCHS 20 years after being built.

"Her time was up; they closed the high school. They could not save her; she was unable to save herself. I watched as they took down the tower on the A building bit by bit: then it came crashing down.

"For days the front end loaders and bulldozers came to take the debris, piles of dirt, bricks, wood and glass. However, they never took away her wonderful memories.

"Goodbye dear friend. What once was yesterday, looks like a dry, barren desert today."

Mainzer signs off with a chant from her days as a student.

Here's to Trenton High School, the red and black. Here's to our high school, Nothing does she lack.

Greg Wright may be reached at Follow him on Twitter @GregTheWright. Find on Facebook.