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Posted on Wed, Jan. 31, 2007
GREG CLARK COMMENTARY Hiram Young, a former slave who never mastered the written language, wanted the school he was establishing to teach children to read and write. For decades, it did. Now, it’s poised to do much more. Civic leaders envision the Independence school building as a home for a reading program, numerous health endeavors, a youth-leadership model and a historic-preservation project. A few minor obstacles remain. You know … the need for huge amounts of money, expert help and community buy-in. But if frustrations grow too big, the supporters need only remember the school’s namesake. Young should provide more than enough inspiration to push forward. He bought his freedom in 1847, and in 1850 he moved to Independence, where he became a leading maker of wagons and oxbows sold to pioneers trekking along the Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails. He became one of Jackson County’s wealthier men, but because he couldn’t read or write, he had to hire Independence’s first mayor as his business agent. Historians say Young eventually bought slaves of his own and let them work for their freedom. In 1874 he established the school. Initially named after abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, it was rechristened as Hiram Young School after its benefactor’s death. In 1934, a new school replaced the original building. It still sits today at 501 N. Dodgion St., where it serves as a warehouse for the Independence School District. Stone landscaping and a brick exterior exude strength, but the building is a mess inside. Paint peels from nearly every wall. Windows await replacing. District equipment sits most everywhere. But when Tom Rayfield gazes at it, he sees a thing of beauty. He sees the Hiram Young Health and Heritage Center as he’s certain it will look in the near future … a place that will provide equal doses of help and hope. “The building is not the important thing,” said Rayfield, board president of a nonprofit organization that formed when Lions clubs bought the building in 2004. “What occurred in the building is the important thing we’re trying to save.” Rayfield and others want to make the historically valuable building into “a model to be set up and watched by groups across America and overseas. This is” something people can look at and say, ‘If they can do that, why can’t we?’ How important is it? The group’s CEO, Jack Ferguson, a former Independence school board member who lists philanthropic projects in numerous countries on his résumé, puts it this way: “If I would look back on my life with all the different things I have done, it probably would be one of the two or three most important things. “It’s my home. These are my neighbors.” Those neighbors include Lions clubs from Clay, Platte, Jackson and Cass counties. Most have donated money toward the $2.5 million project, and many stand ready to help in other ways. The work began in earnest Friday, when crews began removing asbestos-tainted tile from two rooms. The work will end, well, never. After all the walls are fixed and equipment moved in — perhaps by the end of this year, Rayfield said — the challenge of helping people will begin. Jim Wheaton, director of the Women, Infants and Children program for Truman Medical Center-Lakewood, said his group already is discussing an Independence operation with the Lions. Wheaton said it could serve 3,000 a month. And what really excites Rayfield and Ferguson is the prospect of a telemedicine plan. It would use technology to help medical experts diagnose and recommend treatment for patients far from the physical site. But Bea Agee, another board member, holds dear a different piece of the project: the preservation of history. Agee attended kindergarten through sixth grade at the school. She knows its importance in the heritage of Independence, and especially African-Americans. She saw it spur educations, become a focal point of social life and offer inspiration through the story of its founder. Agee, who later became a principal in the Independence district, holds high expectations. “I would hope to see the hustle and bustle of people of all ages and ethnicities, visiting a site that’s truly a glorious place,” she said. “They would be reading the plaques and historical compositions … thinking of the fact that a lot of these people played a big part in making Independence the place it is now … and the place it is going to be.”
WANT TO HELP? If you’re interested in helping the Hiram Young Health and Heritage Center, call board President Tom Rayfield at (816) 331-7531.
FOR MORE INFORMATION On the Internet, you can visit http://www.hiramyoungcsc.org. FOR MORE INFORMATION On the Internet, you can visit http://www.hiramyoungcsc.org. To reach Greg Clark, call (816) 234-7803 or send e-mail to gclark@kcstar.com.
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