The site where thousands of children attended school continues to teach – even though Douglas Elementary School is gone. The site near Douglas Park has been transformed into the Douglas Discovery Garden in Danville. The school was earlier torn down, but Danville Parks and Recreation Superintendent Steve Lane says some ladies had an idea to continue education at the site.
‘’They just wanted to provide an area where kids — that don’t get exposed to gardening and plants, and some of the other nature things that are out there – they wanted to make an area where kids could come and learn about these things. A lot of the folks in our community they’ve got all this knowledge about gardening,’’ said Lane, ‘’you know, the Master Gardeners and folks like that – ladies from the Garden Club. It would be nice to have a place where they could pass that knowledge on. And we’re hoping that’s what Douglas Discovery Garden is going to become.’’
Volunteers pitched in over the weekend to get Douglas Discovery Garden ready for this summer.
The school’s old flagpole is still there, and for many years Ernie Curtis would daily make sure the American Flag was raised there – even after the school was gone. Over the weekend one of Curtis’ daughters – Kathy Delzell – helped raise a new flag. ‘’I grew up here and I love it here,’’ said Delzell. ‘’Everybody comes together to help the neighborhood.’’ She added that while the Douglas Discovery Garden is beautiful, ‘’it’s bittersweet because we loved our school.’’
The Douglas Discovery Garden was one of four areas where volunteers pickup litter over the weekend as part of an effort sponsored by Keep Vermilion County Beautiful.
[***Note – You can click on the photos to enlarge them.]
