So I didn't end up posting about the Sterling Annex site last year. I did stop by, but it hadn't changed since 2024, so no update was really necessary. In late 2025, work had finally started. When I stopped by in January 2026, the site had been fully cleared and concrete had been poured for the pocket park's paths.
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| View from January 2026 |
Which now brings us to a few days ago, when I visited again and everything seems to be complete!
Where the baseball field once stood is the new Lindsay Detailing Facility building. The site of the Sterling Annex building is now part of the parking lot. The pocket park encompasses a small sliver of what used to be the front lawn. The pocket park is basically a path that runs through a narrow grassy area between the sidewalk and a retention basin. Along the way are two small circular plazas, ringed around with salvaged brick from the school. The smaller circle is approximately in line with where the school's front path was. The larger circle on the corner of the property features a recreated brick archway and a plaque going over the school's history.
The plaque's sentence layout seem a little disorganized. I also don't know why it brings up that the building was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Any building technically becomes eligible once it turns 50 years old. However, no one applied for it to be listed, so it wasn't.
The park is a nice gesture. Okay, I think it's a little silly. The pocket park's path runs alongside the sidewalk. You can hop from one path to the other. The pocket park doesn't go to any destination the regular sidewalk doesn't also go to. However, the sidewalk also doesn't connect to anything off-property, so there's nowhere to go to or come from.
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| Caution, the sidewalk is ending! |
There's not much you can do with this plot that's low budget, low maintenance, and with an expected low attendance. It is a green strip next to a car detailing facility and a cloverleaf interchange. It's code compliance with environmental/historical concessions. I wish there had been a more inventive creation, but I get why it is what it is.
A quick look at the Lindsay Detailing Facility:
Overall, it is nice the history is being acknowledged. This area continues to change rapidly. What is considered "Old Sterling" is disappearing all the time. My camera's mostly been focused on the schoolhouse, but I'd like to take this moment to document the nearby hold-outs.
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| Tart Lumber |
Another vestige of Old Sterling has its own memorialization nearby. Some elements of the Old Sterling United Methodist Church were saved prior to its demolition and were integrated into a pocket park on its former site. The preservation group Save Old Sterling was instrumental in making this happen.
Also, not pictured but I want to shout-out Sterling Annex's predecessor, the Old Sterling Schoolhouse. Opened in 1880, it's still around on 1000 Ruritan Circle!
Thank you for joining me on this documentation journey. It's been 10 years since I started doing annual updates on the Sterling Community Center Annex. It's been a sad journey, but I enjoyed coming out here each year to see how things have changed. I'll always think of this school when I pass through this cloverleaf interchange.
