Plan to renovate Bibb Elementary into ‘iSteam Center’ moving forward

A drone construction and flight workshop. A state-of-the-art auditorium and recording studio. An entire room of 3-D printers. A glassblowing area, pottery kiln, rooftop astronomy platform and hydroponic greenhouse, complete with tables for regular community farmer’s markets.

These are only a few features that retired Columbus educator Mike Edmondson has planned for the renovation of Bibb Elementary School into a new “iSteam Center” for science and arts education.

Edmondson has been working on a plan to renovate the historic property for more than a year. His plan would completely restore the exterior of the building and drastically reconfigure the interior into a learning center for art and technology.

Some of the features Edmondson now has planned for the center include:

• A “makerspace” in the basement, complete with laser cutters and an electrical shop
• A pottery studio with a pug machine for making clay
• A glass blowing studio
• A hydroponic garden for community members and students to grow and study plants and vegetables
• A weather and astronomy viewing platform with telescopes and meteorological equipment
• Robotics, photography, coding, and design spaces
• Two vans to deliver educational materials to area schools
• Two “floating classrooms” that could take students on trips down the river for science and art activities
• A modern auditorium for lectures, TED talks, or other presentations
• Photographs, art and holographic displays depicting the history of mill life in the region

Edmondson, who taught in Muscogee County for about 35 years, says that this project holds personal significance.

“Bibb Elementary was built in 1915 to educate the children of the mill workers in Bibb City,” Edmondson said. “I’m from LaGrange, and I went to a school that was built by the mill for their kids. I went to an elementary school that was built by the Callaway mills.”

Bibb Elementary has been closed since 2001, and has fallen into deep disrepair.

“The interior is shot,” Ednomdson said. “But we completed a Phase One assessment in December to see if the building could be salvaged. They brought in a civil engineer and they said that yes, the shell has good integrity and can probably be saved.”

Edmondson created a nonprofit, the Bibb Center Inc., to plan for a complete renovation of the derelict building into his vision of a learning center that will “echo the honest, hardworking past it served and the resurrected present in which it rises from desolation.”

There is still a long way to go.

Edmondson has only raised about $4,000 for the project, but says that he is working on several grants, including a $100,000 grant through Historic Columbus. He also raised some of the start-up money himself.

“One of the things I do on the side is bake cakes and sell them at the farmers market, and so the money that I saved up from doing that is the money that I used to start the legal side of the nonprofit,” he said. “I tell my friends that this is probably the first time a teacher has done a bake sale to buy a school.”

Now Edmondson is waiting for the results from Phase Two of the environmental assessment of the property.

“They’re looking to see if there’s any evidence of oil storage or any hazardous materials that may have been there over the years. They also went into the building and did lots of sampling for things like asbestos, lead paint and black mold.”

Once that report comes back, Edmondson says he will be ready to request federal money to start gutting the interior of the building.

“I want it to be in a shape that says it looks like this (project) is possible” before going after larger donors, Edmondson said. He has already received other forms of support, including a letter from Muscogee County School District Superintendent David Lewis. He hopes to appear before Columbus Council soon and present the project to them as well.

The goal, he says, is to eventually have the center partner with the school district and Columbus State University.

Edmondson says that the project, which he estimates will cost about $9 million, could eventually spark real change in the Bibb City area.

“Seeing someone pouring $9 million in that place, they will pay attention. It could be a real kickoff for renovation and revitalization of that area.”

For more information on how to get involved with the project, Edmondson can be contacted at thebibbcenterinc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published June 14, 2017 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Plan to renovate Bibb Elementary into ‘iSteam Center’ moving forward."