Battle Of Franklin Is Lost - New School Will Be Built By Ed Ballam

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Mary Pearce, executive director of the Heritage Foundation of Franklin, said she spent nearly three days in tears at the realization that all efforts to stop the construction of a school on battlefield land had failed (Civil War News August issue).

The Williamson County School Board is proceeding full steam ahead with construction of a new elementary school which is slated to open for students in the fall of 2002.

"I don't lose many of these battles, and this one was particularly difficult," Pearce said. "It makes me feel inadequate, like there was something I should have done differently."

This spring, the school board broke ground for the school after condemning the land. At the time, the board said there was no alternative site and any delay in the construction would mean students would be forced to stay in temporary classrooms - a condition they said was unacceptable.

The school site was used for a staging area for Army of Tennessee troops as they assembled for the two-mile charge into the Nov. 30, 1864, Battle of Franklin. Excavation of the site turned up battle relics which revealed that the site was also the scene of engagement.

The site is directly across from the Harrison House, an estate used as headquarters by Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood. The property was later used as a field hospital.

As the construction continues, the Heritage Foundation has been working on securing conservation easements on the surrounding property.

Pearce said that means the new school now sits in the middle of hundreds of acres of preserved battlefield and viewshed land.

"Building as school in the middle of that unspoiled area just doesn't make any sense," Pearce said. "I thought we had it for a while, but we didn't."

Pearce said that the Williams County Board of Commissioners was opposed to the school construction and she believed there were enough votes to change the course of the project. However, a snag arose when the commissioners learned that they would have to pony up $750,000 to restore the land to its preconstruction state, she said.

"That finished it," she said. "When they heard they'd have to come up with $750,000, they weren't going to vote to do that." Concerned about the tax rate and revenue sources, Pearce said the commissioners didn't feel they could come up with the necessary funds.

A poll, conducted by the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) for the Heritage Foundation, revealed that three quarters of the county residents opposed construction of the school. A number of historic preservation groups, as well as parents, opposed the construction as well.

Even some of the school administrators themselves were beginning to waiver on the project and top school officials were overtly trying to dissuade the board from continuing with the school construction project.'

All to no avail.

The school saga was like a roller coaster ride for much of the summer with preservationists gaining a foothold in their battle, only to be pushed back by requirements and aggressive deadlines. At one point, the board agreed to look at alternative sites and actually said at least two others presented by the Heritage Foundation were worthy of further exploration.

The board demand that the Heritage Foundation come up with nearly $3.5 million to cover all possible relocation costs was a major setback. The foundation had raised some funds, but didn't have that much money and no real means to get it.
With the construction of the school inevitable, Pearce said she hopes she lives long enough to see the facility converted into an interpretive center in the middle of all the conserved land.

"I may not live that long, but I can always hope," Pearce said.