Pieces of Decatur High School history are returning to the place where generations of Decatur students once walked the halls.
The “Pillars of Remembrance” will be formally unveiled Monday, September 7th, outside the Decatur Civic Center on Franklin Street.
The date carries special significance — it marks 115 years since the opening of the original Decatur High School building in 1911.
Decatur High School, later known as Stephen Decatur High School, stood at the site from 1911 until 1975. The Civic Center now occupies the former school property.
When the school was demolished, city workers preserved portions of the enormous front pillars, saving them for a possible future use.
That future has now arrived.
Six sections of the original pillars have been placed on the Civic Center’s entrance plaza along Franklin Street. Two original pillar bases have also been incorporated into the area behind the Stephen Decatur monument south of the Civic Center.
The original pillars stood about 21 feet tall and were constructed from reddish Jacobsville sandstone quarried in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Preservation architect Stephen J. Kelly, a graduate of Decatur High School, studied the pillars and their construction in 2024 as part of the effort to better understand and preserve the historic pieces.
The project is the result of decades of preservation efforts, including work by city employees who saved and stored the pillar pieces and former students who helped create the area behind the Stephen Decatur monument.
History of the Heartland, the City of Decatur and the Decatur Civic Center are inviting the community to the unveiling.
The Pillars of Remembrance will be unveiled at 2:30 p.m. Monday, September 7th, outside the Decatur Civic Center.
For former students and longtime Decatur residents, the pillars offer a tangible reminder of a school that played a major role in the city’s history for more than six decades.
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