Windermere Demolishes Historic School House Making Way for New Government Complex

The golden glimmer of shovels filled the eyes of onlookers as city leaders in Windermere dug into the ground at the site of what will become the city's new municipal complex. January 11 will be a date to remember, and as Mayor O'Brien stated, the ceremony marked a "big day" for a "small town."

Windermere’s government complex housed in a 1916 school house for decades. Nearly twenty years prior, the city transformed the former school complex into the town’s police department, administrative department, public works office and commercial rental space. In October 2020, despite the concerns of preservation-inclined residents, the town razed the 1916 school house to make room for the new facility.

The town will borrow up to $5.2 million for the project. "Ten years ago almost exactly to this date, we found our town of Windermere at a crossroads — a crossroads that occurred because at times we failed to invest in the most important resources for any successful enterprise: people,” O’Brien explained at the ceremony."When we worked to rebuild our leadership staff and our police department, we knew that having the right people and the right tools was vital to the success and future of our community. We understood that building for the long haul would require a long-term vision."

Though most agree about the necessity of the new complex, many lament that the city's "long-term vision" came at the cost of culture and history, with Windermere resident Jessica Rosenberg remarking: "Once you destroy something like that, you'll never get it back."