Goodbye Nottingham

Nottingham moves on… Hello, Casey’s!

STORY BY SHAI NETTLES

Nottingham Elementary served Eudora for over 40 years, but on Oct. 26, that building will no longer stand in Eudora, and the process will begin and change the derelict building into a Casey’s General Store. All of the memories, history, and meaning will not be forgotten, but what does this mean for Eudora?

“We only have one chance to develop this property correctly, we have to do it right,” explained Ruth Hughs, former elementary teacher and member of Eudora City Commission. Ruth Hughs taught at Nottingham Elementary for over 30 years and was an educator for over 40. According to Hughs, this property is the most valuable property in Eudora. 

After Nottingham was shut down in 2008, a new elementary school was built. 

“We were getting more for our money,” said Hughs. The new elementary school can house over 1,000 students, and Nottingham could not house that many.  

The Nottingham Elementary building was owned by the school until 2015. In 2015, the city bought Nottingham property, but it has sat undeveloped since then. The property was used for a variety of purposes for 4-5 years after the elementary school moved, however, after a while, it sat unused because of  mold inside of the building. 

According to Ruth Hughs, the city was looking for a way to develop that property in a way that would be responsible and would benefit Eudora, and selling it to Casey’s was the right idea. Casey’s has wanted to move for years,  which was due to the fact that current Eudora Casey’s location is not big enough. 

According to Mayor Tim Reazin, this is just a catalyst. This area is going to be a bigger area than just a Casey’s. Mayor Reazin mentioned that hopefully there would be more for Eudora, more stores, bigger plans, better traffic systems. The idea though, is not to destroy the history, but keep the memory there. According to Mayor Reazin, they will try to keep bricks from the old Nottingham building and make a memorial, and possibly name it Nottingham Center. The move will benefit Casey’s in many ways, by making smoother transportation space, and moving to a more prominent  space in our town. 

According to Reazin, Kwik Shop will have nothing to worry about. 

“Retail helps retail,” explained Reazin. Some were scared that Kwik Shop may go out of business, but that should not be the case. 

“We don’t intend to run anyone out of business,” said Lee Fagan, manager of Casey’s General Store. Fagan explained that he does not know much about the entire plan because it is in it’s beginning stages,  but he mentioned that Casey’s may have more parking spaces for people, and more opportunity. 

“We are really delighted,” said Fagan. 

Theresa Abel, class of 1984, went to Nottingham Elementary School. Abel went to Nottingham all the way from kindergarten to sixth grade. Abel has more memories of Nottingham than she can count. Ms. Hughes was Abel’s third grade teacher. “Ms. Hughs third grade class was where I learned how to peel carrots,” said Abel. She said that they always had a Thanksgiving feast and that was one of her favorite parts.

Abel was one of the first classes to be a part of the new Nottingham addition. The newer part of Nottingham got added on when she was in the fourth grade. She said she enjoyed Ms. Nottingham day. Ms. Nottingham day was a day where Ms. Nottingham would come in and visit with the elementary children.  

“It is sad to see it go, but I understand,” said Abel. She imagines that it will benefit Eudora, but those memories will never be gone or forgotten.  

“I only have good memories from there,” said Abel.