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Then and now
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Opened in 1951 to students consolidated from Charleys Creek, Rock Bridge, Sols Creek, Tanassee Gap and Wolf Creek schools, the four-classroom, red-brick Canada School (top photo) symbolized opportunity for all of Canada community. The school made national headlines in March 1967 when Lady Bird Johnson, wife of then-President Lyndon Johnson, spent a morning in its halls. The school made local headlines 15 years later when community members staged a boycott and kept their students out of class in protest of a school board decision to consolidate Canada and Cullowhee elementary schools. Residents’ concerns did not sway school officials, however, and the Canada School closed in 1982. It stood empty for more than two decades except for a brief attempt to establish a mountain craft co-op there. The school system transferred the property to Jackson County at the request of the Canada Fire Department around 2002. The building was razed in April 2004. Plans were made to develop the 4.5-acre former school site into a park, and construction that began in early 2005 is now nearing completion (bottom photo). Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland said Aug. 17 that rest rooms and playground equipment will soon be installed and the facility should be ready to open next month. – Herald file photo (top) and Herald photo by Nick Breedlove
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