From our Whitley News Network partner, Talk of the Town

the "old" Columbia City High School, built in 1905, is just one of several schools located on the site that was chosen by Whitley County Consolidated Schools as the site of the New Tech high school. Below, West Ward School, was also located on this site.

COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (Nov. 2009) — A site that has been linked with learning for the past 140 years will be part of the educational landscape for Whitley County’s youth in the future.
On Tuesday night, Nov. 17, after much discussion and weighing their options, the Whitley County Consolidated School Corporation board selected the Marshall Memorial building as the site of the New Tech high school project.
According to the records held by the Columbia City High School Alumni Association, the current Marshall Memorial site has been linked to education and transformation since the first local students began attending school in the West Ward building which was erected in 1869.
In 1880, the first two Columbia City High School students, Nathalie Mason Mullen and David Swan Linvill, began attending high school classes in the first West Ward building, which was located on the site one half block north of Van Buren Street between Elm and Walnut Streets in Columbia City. The first West Ward school building was erected in 1869. The first two students graduated from Columbia City High School in 1881. The original West Ward building, adjacent to the new West Ward school, was razed for the construction of a new high school facility.
In 1905, the first Columbia City High School was built and continued to house students until the “new” Columbia City High School was built at the present day location in the 1950s.
Later, the West Ward and “old” Columbia City High School buildings were razed and it was the site of Marshall Memorial School. The site continued to be used for elementary and middle school students.
As part of the consolidation process of Whitley Consolidated Schools, Marshall Memorial was no longer used as a school building, but became the home of the WCCS administrative offices and held the offices of Passages Inc. and CANI Headstart.
As part of the process to convert the building to a New Tech high school facility, the administrative offices will likely be relocated and all other organizations utilizing space in the facility will move elsewhere.
As we reported earlier this month, the New Tech high school project is expected to cost under $6 million and will involve renovations at the Marshall Memorial site. A target date of 2011 has been set to open the school.
A $1.9 million loan has been secured for the site and some expenses are expected to be offset by grant funding.