Police investigate vandalism at historic Bartlett Activities Center
BARTLETT, Texas (KWTX) - Police are investigating vandalism at the historic Bartlett Activities Center after the building was broken into.
Built in 1909, the building originally served as a school. Bartlett Activities Center President Kathy Jones told KWTX she actually attended school there before it closed.
“When I went to school here in 1949 it was (grades) one through six. When my parents went to school here, it was all 11 grades, which was all they had back then,” Jones said.
The school closed in the late 1980s and now houses the Bartlett Area Historical Society, the area museum and the Alumni Association.
For at least three decades, Bartlett Activities Center, the parent organization, has worked to restore the historic building.
According to Jones, “it’s funded by membership dues. We have fundraisers and we have very generous members that, you know, send in donations quite often. Without that we would never make it.”
The center has made great progress the past few years. This past Wednesday, however, member Kimberly Dunn came in to prepare for a rental and realized someone had broken in.
“In the trophy room all the trophies were turned over, some of them broken. The back door was ripped open, and then a lot of stuff has been gone through,” Dunn recalled.
The vandals also egged the front of the building and sprayed a fire extinguisher all over the floor inside.
Fortunately, nothing was badly damaged, but Jones says she doesn’t understand why someone would do this.
“It makes me sick. I mean, we work so hard to keep this place going and for all the priceless things we have in here, and for someone to come in here and do something like that, somebody needs to teach their kids better manners,” she said.
They’ve cleaned up what they could, but are still trying to figure out if anything was taken.
“Every time I come over here I find something else,” Jones said, “Fortunately, we had photographers in here that took pictures of just about everything in this building, and they have been kind enough to send us those photos.”
Police continue to investigate the incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact Bartlett Police Department.
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