A well-known eyesore along Highway 169 in Dallas County was the subject of a controlled burn recently, though for now it’s still standing.

The Gardiner Consolidated School Building, located south of the Highway 141 intersection, has stood vacant and neglected for the better part of 50 years. Its days are now numbered, as the owner of the land, Karl Harris of Bouton, intends to turn it into additional farmland. Harris currently farms all the land around it, but the decrepit building has impeded his ability to move his operation onto the lot. Additionally, the former school creates safety and security concerns, as he points out that people are frequently trespassing in the building, which is falling apart and unsafe to be inside.

Harris is using his experience and knowledge as the Bouton Fire Captain to take down the structure. The building is mostly brick, but he says setting fire around it will weaken the masonry so it’ll eventually fall down upon itself. The initial burn was held on Christmas Eve, and involved igniting the trees around the school. That process took out the majority of the wood beams and windowsills in the building, which Harris says have become rotten over the years. The structure is still currently standing, but he’s hoping one more burn in the coming month will do the trick.

Once the building is destroyed, Harris will begin properly cleaning up the property and he hopes to have it farmable in the next planting season. The Gardiner School was erected in 1919, and has been unoccupied since 1964.