Mike Yoder

Liberty Memorial Central Middle School sixth-grade students look at historical features of their school during a Traditions and Heritage Assembly Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. The assembly teaches students about the significance of the school and the story behind the building, a monument to WW I veterans.

There are perks to being the principal of Lawrences Liberty Memorial Central Middle School. Having business cards the size of a Trapper Keeper to accommodate your schools name perhaps is not one of them.

But giving tours to other school district employees, now that is fun. They come in from other buildings spread throughout the district, and LMCMS (Ill buy a vowel, please) Principal Jeff Harkin gladly shows them around. One place always gets featured on the tour: The balcony of the schools auditorium.

From that perch, you really get the sense of this room. The tall, ballroom-like ceilings, the panes of stained-glass windows, the heavy red velvet curtains that look like they could house a phantom of the opera, ornately carved trim work, mammoth bronze plaques, and even a stanza of a Rudyard Kipling poem in large letters above the stage.

They usually just stand here with their mouths open and ask how did you guys get this? Harkin says.

Thats the thing about Liberty Memorial Central Middle School: The one thing larger than its name may be its history.

We have things that other schools dont have, Harkin says to the schools sixth-grade class as he stands in the auditorium. We would not see a school built like this today. They couldnt afford it.

It's hard to imagine that we ever could. But then again, you have to imagine a different day. When Liberty Memorial High School was built at 14th and Massachusetts streets, the country was feeling pretty good about itself. We had just fought the War to End all Wars, and apparently we didnt know much about false advertising yet.

We also hadnt bought in much to the idea of statues of Gen. George Pershing and such. The town wanted to create a memorial for those who died in World War I, and it thought big.

Go here to see the original:

Lawhorn's Lawrence: Liberty Memorial Central Middle School