Knox County Commission Demolishes Old Edina Gym

 By Crystal Howerton

The old Edina gym will fall into history upon its demolition, which began on Thursday morning.
Approximately 70 years old, the gym holds many memories for people in the area as the site of basketball games, graduations and other events, as well as being the location of the Knox County Cornfest craft show for many years. The gym was given back over to the County upon the reorganization of the school district in 1989. My class, the graduating Class of 2001, was the last class to hold kindergarten graduation in the old Edina gym during the 1988-89 school year.
“We just felt like the building had reached beyond its usefulness,” explained Presiding Commissioner L.P. (Pete) Mayfiled. “It has deteriorated over the course of many years and we couldn’t afford to maintain it any longer.”
The Knox County Commission obtained bids for various aspects of the project in the past couple of months. Last week, Hoffman Construction of LaBelle, began the removal of the steel I-beams, with a bid of $1,100. Mayfield said we could expect to see Mid-American Environmental removing asbestos from the roof this week. Owner, Bill Adams of LaPlata, received the bid at $7,500. Later, the County intends to hire trucks to haul away rafters to the landfill. Mayfield said there is a possibility that the wood might have been contaminated by asbestos. County employees will do the remainder of the cleanup of bricks and foundation as their schedule allows. “Although we have no deadline,” explained Mayfield, “We hope to have this project completed by fall.”