New Franklin Battle - Over School Location
By Ed Ballam

FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Despite growing opposition to construction of an elementary school on Battle of Franklin land, it appears likely that the facility will be built.

Bulldozers have already cleared some of the land, revealing cannonball fragments and other artifacts suggesting that the site is actually battlefield, not just a staging area as previously thought. And school board members ignore pleas to stop the construction.

Experts claim there were casualties on the property which is located directly across from the Harrison House, an estate Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood used as headquarters before sending his Army of Tennessee troops over Winstead Hill for the two-mile charge into the Battle of Franklin on Nov. 30, 1864. The property was later used as a field hospital.
School construction is ahead of schedule, making it all but certain that it will be completed. Blasting is scheduled soon and as recently as mid-July, the Williamson County Board of Education declined to reverse its decision, despite mounting pressure from preservationists.

A public opinion poll conducted by the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) which revealed that three-quarters of the Williamson County registered voters oppose construction of the school did nothing to change board members' minds. Nevertheless, Pam Lewis, owner of the Harrison House, refuses to give up hope.

"I refuse to throw in the towel. Hope springs eternal," said Lewis shortly after the school board made it clear that it wouldn't back down.

Now that it appears that preservation efforts have failed, Lewis said she will begin working on conservation and environmental angles in an effort to stop the project.

"We've got a creek and a gas line running through there," she said.

She's hired a structural engineer and installed seismographic instruments on her property to monitor blasting on the school site. She has threatened to hold the school board liable for any damage to her home which is on the Na-tional Register of Historic Places. She also has at least two lawyers looking at ways to stop the construction and protect her property.

And, if a new school is inevitable, Lewis said she would like to preserve the land around it and turn it into a Civil War park and work with the school to incorporate a living history program and Civil War curriculum that could be the flagship program for the state.

While school board members have mixed feelings about building on battlefield land, they say that the preservationists made their arguments known too late in the process to change course.

In their defense school members argued that elementary school overcrowding forced them to use portable classrooms and that students deserve better conditions.

Early in July, it appeared that the board was beginning to buckle under public pressure. They granted the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and preservationists an audience and acknowledged that there were at least two other suitable sites for a school. Less than a week later, the board listed five conditions that would have to be met before calling a special meeting to consider new sites and a vote to move the school.

The school board wanted the local preservationist groups, spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, to come up with nearly $3.5 million to cover all the possible costs of relocating: purchase of the present site, purchase of a new site, money to cover new engineering fees, and a $2 million check, or promissory note, to cover any expenses the change and delays would cost. Heritage Foundation executive director Mary Pearce said the school board's demands "do not represent a good-faith effort on the part of the schools' administration to resolve the problem." She said the foundation had no choice but to decline the conditions.

Jim Campi, spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust, said the trust was not pleased at the turn of events that would require the foundation to come up with a seemingly unobtainable amount of funds to stop the construction.
"We're very disappointed by the demands of the school board," Campi said. "There was a glimmer of hope, but that seems to be gone now."

During the 11th hour of the battle, CWPT president O. James Lighthizer urged the Williamson County School Board to reconsider using battlefield property.

"While a school can be built almost anywhere, Civil War resources are non-renewable components of the heritage of all Americans," Lighthizer wrote. "Historic resources in Franklin should not be compromised and the school should be sited elsewhere, away from hallowed ground."

Also urging the school board to relent were historian Wiley Sword and Fred Prouty, director of the Tennessee Historical Commission, among others.

Lewis, the Harrison House owner, acknowledged that local opinion of the school project has been mixed.
"There are a lot of people who want the school no matter what," Lewis said. "They're saying, 'Battlefield, smattle-field, I want a school for little Johnny.'"

Lewis said that as long as no concrete has been poured, she will continue to hold out hope that the school will be moved.

"Continued public pressure is the only thing that is going to make things change," Lewis said. "If people really want to help, they should continue to put pressure on the school board members." For information call the Heritage Foundation at (615) 591-8500.