NEWMAN, Ill. (WAND) - In efforts to save a piece of history, the Newman community stepped up to buy the old grade school and restore it.

The new Newman Grade School welcomed students in 1935, according to Dana Hales. Hales was one of the thousands of students who attended Newman Grade School. He started in the building in 1956 as a first grader.

"I know where I was at in this room," Hales said as he sat in an old classroom, now filled with hundreds of trophies and Newman memorabilia.

In 1994 Newman Schools consolidated with Shiloh School District. However, the grade school still remained in operation until 2005-2006, Hales said.

With an empty school building on their hands, community members knew something needed to be done with the historic building. In 2006, the Newman High School was torn down because it had fallen into disrepair through several private owners, according to Hales.

"We didn't want to lose another building in Newman, we already lost the high school a few years previous," said Roger Sy, chairman of local GOAL community group.

There were talks in town about ideas or ways to save the building. While the structure was in decent shape, it still needed renovations and work done if there hopes of saving it.

"A vocal point of the population said you either tear it down or turn it into a community center, do not let what happened to this what happened to the high school," Matthew Hales, Newman Regional Librarian, shared.

Meetings were held and many voiced their opinion and concern about whether to save or not to save the old building. Sy recalled one council meeting when many within the community spoke up and felt the building was worth saving.

"When we first started talking about it we said it was going to take money and I remember one lady walked up and wrote out a check for $100, laid it on the table and said now does anyone else want to get in and be apart of this?"

From that meeting on people started to pull their money together. Community members were either donating time or money to help with the renovations, Matthew Hales remembered.

"There were massive amounts of donations to the building that I couldn't even begin to catalog," he said.

The Newman Community transformed the grade school into a community area. The building is now home to the library, a large gymnasium people and organizations can use, city offices and the police department.

"It was a perfect opportunity for us to move in and keep things going," Sy shared.