Art piece commemorates former St. Wendelin high school

Though many were saddened to see the demolition of Fostoria’s St. Wendelin High School building last year, the memory of the school lives on in a sculpture located in downtown Fostoria.

Made by sculptor Kenneth Thompson, the sculpture utilizes two beams salvaged from the high school, which was built in 1873. The beams stand upright in the parkette on the corner of North and Main streets in Fostoria’s downtown. The Fostoria Area Visitors Bureau (FAVB) partnered with Great Lakes Community Action Partnership (GLCAP) to secure funding for the project, which was supported by a $10,500 Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation (Rural LISC) grant.

“Over the last several years, the Fostoria Area Visitors Bureau has been working to bring ‘new and different’ to our community. We’ve been utilizing the presence of outdoor public art as an attraction and revitalization component in our downtown area,” FAVB Community Development & Tourism Director Michele Cochran said. “It was a unique opportunity to work with GLCAP on this grant to create an interesting new sculpture that is inspiring in its own right, but is also very special because of its historical significance in our community.”

“We know the high school meant a lot to the people of Fostoria,” GLCAP Planning & Development Coordinator Tiffaney Shaver said. “This grant helped keep the memory of the school alive.”

The sculpture also adds to the FAVB’s Art Walk space that runs through the city’s downtown and includes murals, quilts, and other art pieces. A virtual tour of the Art Walk can be found by searching “Fostoria” at this link.

“The FAVB and GLCAP were grateful that Rural LISC could support this addition to our city’s Art Walk and commemoration of Fostoria history,” Shaver added.