KINGWOOD – Many nonprofit organizations have found themselves unable to hold fundraisers due to COVID. Some have turned to selling drive-by meals and others have searched for grants to help tide them over.
The Friends of Preston Academy is offering office space for rent in the historic building at 102 E. High St., Kingwood.
Susan Miller, president of Friends of The Preston Academy, said the nonprofit is also seeking grant funding to complete work on the building.
“It would be helpful if we could get letters from people saying they would consider renting business space in the building and how many people they will be employing,” Miller said.
She said a report about the building can be found on The Friends of Preston Academy Facebook page. There is also a photograph of the Academy while it was the Charles H. and Rachel B. Manoun residence from July 1919-April 1959. The photo was contributed by Sandy Hardesty Turner, Rachel Manoun’s niece.
After leasing the circa 1841 two-story brick structure from the Preston County Board of Education for six years, Friends of Preston Academy, purchased the building in 2001 after receiving a $225,000 federal Housing and Urban Development grant.
The academy was built in 1841. The county started holding classes there between 1843 and 1845; the board of trustees turned it over to the newly created board of education in 1867.
It was used as a public school until 1973. Then it housed some school administrative offices for a while.
In 2018 the Elihu Gregg trial reenactment was held at the academy. Gregg was the man who burned the Preston courthouse in 1857 and was sentenced to hang. He escaped and wrote a letter to the local newspaper expressing his “regret at not being able to be in Kingwood on the date he was to be hanged, as he was detained on other business.” A link to a You Tube video of the event can be found at https://www.facebook.com/prestonacademy.
Miller said anyone interested in renting space in the upstairs portion of the building can call 304-216-8079.
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