One of the best parts of living in a small town is seeing ‘old school’ history honored and preserved. The Marshfield Community Center, which was built in 1916 and previously served as the town’s original school building, has undergone a lot of changes over the past year.
A brief history:
From 1916 to 1960, the building, located at 110 Commercial Street, was used for kindergarten through 12th grade for Marshfield schools. In 1936, the east wing of the building was built.
At that time, there were six classrooms on the upper level of the east wing and the lower level of the east wing was all used as a gymnasium. A new gymnasium, which is currently still in use on the west end of the building, was built in 1954 and the old gym on the east wing became classrooms and an assembly room, later evolving to add a library.
After Hubble Elementary was added at 660 North Locust Street in 1960, the building was used as the middle and high school. It wasn’t until a new high school was built (660 North Locust) in the year 1975 that the original building serviced solely middle schoolers. At this point in time, the building used for the high school was located southeast of Hubble. Known today as the Marshfield Junior High School, middle schoolers moved out of the original school building completely when the current high school off of State Highway DD was built in 2000.
The school district sold the building to the Marshfield Public School Foundation shortly after the high school was finished, and the old building was used for about 10 more years as a central office and an alternative school for a brief period before the addition of the new central office on the high school’s campus.
Enter Lyndall and Melanie Fraker:
The Frakers purchased the building from the Marshfield Public Schools Foundation in September of last year, and have put a lot of love and elbow grease into making sure the building that helped mold and develop so many Marshfieldians did not dissipate into history.
This isn’t new for the Frakers, however. Melanie Fraker has been managing the Marshfield Community Center for the foundation since 2009 with work to revive the building focusing on the west wing, the building directly behind the old school, and Reunion Field which is home of the Marshfield Reunion Fest, run by Lyndall.
Over these years, the Marshfield Community Center, also briefly known as the Marshfield Activities Center, housed several small businesses on its campus, allowing for party rental space, restaurants, community open skate nights in the gymnasium and more. Becoming the owners of the property was an opportunity that the Frakers remain excited about.
“There is a lot of history in this building,” Lyndall said. “It’s been really neat to see more of the building in the east wing come together and be redeveloped, because of that history.”
RetroZone:
Last week, the east wing of the community center saw the grand opening of two small businesses in the east wing. RetroZone Marshfield, owned by Landon Fraker, had its relocation grand opening. The ‘old school’ arcade offers a classic lineup of gaming favorites including upright arcade games, quarter games, pinball machines, video games, claw machines and more. Landon is the son of Lyndall and Melanie Fraker.
“It’s been special to watch Landon grow in this business,” Lyndall added. “We’re really proud of him and the place looks great.”
With murals painted throughout the zone by Samantha Cox, the new location offers a retro feel upon entry. The Saturday grand opening event was packed with dozens seeking a sense of nostalgia.
“We had a great turnout. It meant a lot to see all the people there enjoying the new place. We put a lot of work into the hallway, with the mural and the decorating,” Landon said.
“I really like learning about and working to preserve history, and I know it means a lot to my dad growing up and knowing his parents went to school here. Having the arcade helps encapsulate those things and allow people to still enjoy a building with such a rich backstory… We’re preserving the old school arcade games and at the same time, renovating and helping to revive the old school building.”
RetroZone Marshfield is open Friday, Saturday and Monday from 4-9 p.m. For more information, visit their website at retrozonemarshfield.com.
Old School Donut Shop:
A brand new business owned by three sisters and their husbands also celebrated its grand opening in the east wing of the campus, in a room previously used as a science classroom. Jessica and Edward Engleson, Amy and Brett Lamar, and Stacy and Mark Herring opened the shop after the idea was born in April of this year.
“My sister Amy moved here from Arkansas and wanted a donut shop that was open on Fridays,” explained Jessica. “So she said we should open a donut shop… we got the keys to this place at the beginning of June and we were ecstatic to open within two months. It went from a normal classroom to this donut shop really quickly. We handpicked pieces and decorated with things we got from Melanie that were in the old school.”
The shop is quipped with a wall of black and white photo memories of actual students who attended school in the building. Seating is available cafeteria style, round seats and all. Chalk boards display the menu and the donuts are served on small cafeteria trays. Adding to the nostalgia, the right wall of the shop is lined with colorful lockers, topped with actual Marshfield trophies dating back to the 1920’s.
“Stacy has known the Frakers since she worked for them in the MAC, so when we were looking for property and found this, we knew we had to go with the old school theme,” Jessica added. “It’s been amazing to hear people come in and say they had science class in this room… we hope to serve the community for years to come.”
The Old School Donut Shop is open Friday through Monday, 5:30-11:30 a.m. Donuts are made from fresh yeast daily and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, find them on Facebook by searching The Old School Donut Shop.
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