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Barium Springs construction nears completion

Russell Ledbetter | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | March 9, 2008

Drivers passing through Barium Springs on U.S. Highway 21 South might hardly glance at the famed and former site of the once-thriving Barium Springs Children’s Home.

Since 2001, Children’s Home board members and staff have been working to bring a dramatic physical update to the historically rich campus.

President John Koppelmeyer and the board hope the ambitious renovation will complement the five-star accreditations that today has made the Children’s Home a model in helping at-risk and neglected children.

Its two early childhood education centers are the only accredited programs in Iredell County.

“This is our third campus renovation since we first opened in 1891,” Koppelmeyer said. “There haven’t been any major renovations or new buildings since 1969. Revitalization is our primary mission right now.”

The site’s appearance appears to be more of a historical relic than the modern-day, industry-leading home for children it is.
The near completion of a multimillion dollar campuswide revitalization project - slated to be formally unveil in April - will structurally update the Child-ren’s Home to 21st century relevance, Koppelmeyer said.

With the help of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper and his wife, Kristin, who oversaw the campaign, helped raise more than $6.1 million for the Children’s Home.

At the start of Koppelmeyer’s tenure in 2001, he joined former president Skip Stansell in getting the board to approve the revitalization for the place that serves as a base for satellite facilities including Mooresville, Mount Airy and Yadkinville.

“We wanted to recapture a campus feel. Since 1891, this site has been our touchstone, and we wanted to create a campus that reflects that,” Koppelmeyer said.

Improvements include construction of a new Little Joe’s Chapel and Enrichment Center and the new L.C. Wagner Family and Child Development Center.

Among other uses for the new Little Joe’s Chapel, officials are considering an artisan residence program, which would include a gallery and art workshops.

An existing group home was relocated to the northwest corner of the Barium Springs campus, where it will become a psychiatric residential treatment facility.

Five existing group homes were renovated, and other construction includes two athletic fields (soccer and baseball), infrastructure improvements such as sewer and roads and the expansion of walking trails.

“We have tried to create more of a neighborhood with our five group homes and our school here,” Koppelmeyer said. “We want to provide a sense of community and create a feeling so that people from outside our community can come and be with us. Come walk our trails.”

Officials hope a new, formal entrance to the campus will strike a dramatic professional feel.

“Highway 21 runs right through the middle of that and helps take away from the campus feel,” Koppelmeyer said. “We’ve created a brick pillar entry way on the west side to help provide a more striking entryway. Hopefully people will travel down the highway and say, ‘Hey! There’s something here.’ ”

Barium Springs Children’s Home sits on 1,100 acres of land with the east and west sides of campus divided by a chain-link fence. With “85 to 100 acres” comprising the campus, the children’s home nerve center has been moved, along with the majority of campus buildings to the west side of the dividing roadway.

Throughout the revitalization, officials have made every attempt to hold on to and honor the most unique thing about their past: their history.

“We see this as an opportunity to bring in a piece of who we were to where we’re going,” Koppelmeyer said.

David Hicks of Creekside Woodwork at the Jennings Store in Union Grove created new furnishings to remember and honor the past. He crafted a wooden cross, lectern and community table out of salvaged wood from bleachers in the former Barium Springs gym.

“I remembered the original Little Joe’s Chapel and wanted to keep the same 1900s feel,” he said. “With each piece, I found some of the children had carved their names and initials into the wood.”

Hicks retained the historical graffiti left by alumni. “It has their spirit in each of the pieces,” he said.

The renovation has allowed the campus to nearly double its capacity.

“People have no clue how many staff (members) we have,” Barium Springs Communications Director Sara Gray said.

Two of the early childhood centers - Springs of Faith and the L.C. Wagner Family and Child Development Center - recently were awarded five-star accreditations.

The award was the third such honor for Springs of Faith and first for Wagner from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The accreditations are considered “the gold standard,” Gray said, for early childcare by researchers, doctors, parents and others.

Barium Springs officials hope investors will find the updated campus appealing.

“People tend to want to be involved with that that’s doing well,” Koppelmeyer said. “And we also want to provide potential appeal to those who want to invest in us and our future as well.”

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