JOHNSTOWN - The Greater Johnstown School District is doing extensive stone repairs this summer to the main entrance to Knox Field off South Perry Street, thanks to a donation from a charitable organization.
"We're repairing the main columns at Knox Field," district Director of Facilities and Operations Leo Loveless said. "They're starting to break down."
Loveless said funding for the project - about halfway done - comes from the Knox Foundation, which is donating about $15,000. Rock of Ages Landscaping Supply of Sprakers has been contracted by the district do the work. Loveless said the company plans to be done a few weeks.
Article Photos
Dust flies as Gary Jones, an employee of Rock of Ages Landscaping Supply of Sprakers, grinds a joint on one of the stone columns at Knox Field in Johnstown last week.
The Leader-Herald/Bill Trojan
"They've been doing it over time," district Superintendent Robert DeLilli said Monday.
DeLilli said some of the work may have started last fall, but all of the repair work should be done by the start of the 2012-13 school year in September.
He said the Knox Foundation donated about $15,000 to complete the stone masonry work.
"The Knox Foundation has been very helpful with that property," the superintendent stated.
DeLilli said the columns around Knox Field are part of a "very nice structure" whose origins date to the 1930s.
District Business Manager Alice Sise said New York City-based Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintains the trust for the Knox Foundation, and the school district has over the years requested funding for certain projects.
She said the district makes its formal, initial requests to Judith A. Lee, vice president of philanthropic management, for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Rochester.
She said the district tries to draw from the trust "when there's something that falls into the parameters of the Knox grant." The bank's board of trustees makes final decisions on funding.
Sise said the Knox trust exists for the express purpose of such things as the stone work, and upkeep, repair and maintenance of the district's clubhouse, grandstand, bandstand, fences, tennis court, baseball field, football field and running track.
In the case of the Knox Field pillars, Sise said Loveless requested the funding and she secured it through the foundation.
"We've done things like this before," the business manager said, including siding for the district's "white house." That structure, behind Knox Junior High School, is the site of the School District Museum.
Lee said the assets of the trust are owned by the trust, which is classified as a foundation and was created many years ago by the Knox family. It's "sole purpose," she said, is for maintenance of facilities such as at Knox Field.
"It's a very nice legacy for them," Lee said. "It's very nice for the school district to have something to fall back on."
Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at johnstown@leaderherald.com.