What’s next for Gary’s historic Roosevelt High School?

This week, the school, which closed in 2019, was included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual list of 11 sites that highlight the country’s complex and rich history. This year’s list specifically featured places where the local community has banded together to preserve them.

Read More: The Fight to Stop the Erasure of Historic Black Towns

In Gary, the efforts to save and maintain Roosevelt High have involved people throughout and beyond the city limits — hence the overwhelming displays of enthusiasm following the announcement. But what does the school’s position on the list mean now for its future? Here’s what we know.

“That selection will allow national attention to shine on the school in the hopes that getting a development team that will help us with any development plans that we’re able to pull together,” said Eunice Trotter, director of Indiana Landmarks’ Black Heritage Preservation program.

Out of more than 350 places that have made the lists in the past 37 years, just a handful have not been saved. Being named an endangered site opens the door for current preservation efforts to be bolstered by anything from funding to legislation.

It’s estimated that $20 million is needed to repair the 700,000-square-foot school where public figures like NBA star Glenn Robinson and some members of the Jackson 5 attended. However, Judith Leek-Mead, president of the National Gary Theodore Roosevelt Alumni Association, said some areas only need a good cleaning. She noted that certain sections of the school, such as the auditorium and cafeteria, could be opened and used as a way to generate money to fix the rest of the school.

Many uses for the school have been thrown out. On social media, people have said it could be turned into a city museum, a visitor’s center for the region, or a community hub. Most important, it seems, is that its history as one of just three high schools in the state built for Black students is honored.

Tiffany Tolbert, a senior preservation director for the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, said the organization will support whatever consensus the community reaches.

Staff at the National Trust will continue to engage with those invested in preserving Roosevelt High, Tolbert said, whether that’s by offering technical assistance or other resources.

Trotter with Indiana Landmarks was part of the team that nominated Roosevelt to be on the annual list. She said the school’s alumni were some of the most passionate she’s ever met, and she wants the preservation of Roosevelt to lead to increased buy-in for future development in Gary.

“We know that there are so many assets within that community that can be exported to bring about that revitalization, and Gary Roosevelt High School’s at the epicenter of those assets,” Trotter said.

Currently, the school is owned by the Gary Community School Corporation, and proposals to transfer ownership were being explored as recently as 2021. Leek-Mead said that while past district leadership wasn’t accommodating to the alumni association’s questions about plans for the property and where memorabilia is stored, the current leadership has been.

She and two other alums have even begun cataloging Roosevelt items being held at West Side Leadership Academy. The project was started last year and is now 70% complete, Leek-Mead said.

The alumni association’s next step is determining its “first avenue of attack” when identifying other potential partners and uses for the school. And she’d like for the school to be included on the city’s preservation list, something she pursued during former Mayor Jerome Prince’s term.

Requests for comment from the city of Gary regarding the inclusion of the school were not returned by the time of publication.