Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 6, 1991
By Anthony K. Albert
P-I Reporter
Black Diamond — Community center Director Dorothy Botts is getting a chance to save a big piece of her community’s history and put it to good use.
A 70-year-old gymnasium, built in 1921 by Pacific Coast Coal Co. for a strike breakers’ dormitory, will become a permanent addition to the community center to play host to events for moderate- to low-income families free of charge.
“We’ve allowed so many of our historical buildings be torn down. It will be more economical to move the building than to build a new one,” Botts said.
She spent 11 months raising $100,000 in corporate donations to move the huge building that she is getting free from the Enumclaw School District, which controls Black Diamond Elementary.
Botts said she hopes to move the old gymnasium to its new home sometime between Christmas and New Year’s, when school is closed for the holidays.
The gym, which is 43 feet wide, 87 feet long, and 32 feet high, will be hoisted and hauled three blocks down state Route 169 from Black Diamond Elementary to an empty 3-acre, city-owned lot across from City Hall.
An executive at a Kent house moving firm said it will take at least eight days to move the building. Three days will be needed to separate it from the foundation and hoist it, three days to set steel supports and set it on dollies, four hours to move it, and two days to bolt it to its new foundation.
Botts estimated the minimum cost of moving the gym at $41,000.
The elementary school used the building for a gym until last school year, when a multipurpose room was expanded into a full gymnasium. The school district didn’t have an immediate need for the building and leased it to Botts for $1 a year until it is moved, said Jim Forler, business manager.
More than half the corporate donations came from The Boeing Co., United Way, and the Seattle Foundation.
Puget Power, TCI Cablevision, and US West Communications also donated their services to remove power, cable, and phone lines along the three-block stretch when the gym is moved. Botts estimated their services would have cost $12,000.
In addition, Cadman Sand and Gravel Inc. will donate concrete for the new foundation, and Botts will receive a $21,000 federal block grant in January to fix the bathrooms, install a gas heating system, and paint the exterior.
The City Council is helping her save money by leasing the 3-acre lot for $1 a year, and Iddings Inc., a landscaping company, offered to install topsoil and gravel once the building is in place.
The community center will charge fees for certain events, such as adult basketball leagues, to pay for heat and electricity.
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