WARMINSTER, PA —Four years ago, Saint John Bosco School opened its doors for a final open house.
The longtime school on County Line Road, which had been a landmark in the community since 1953, is now being demolished.
Township Zoning Officer Mike Italia said the school is being torn down. He said township officials have not been told what will replace it on the property.
Over the past few years, the property has found some use with a carnival last summer and as a rehearsal venue for Bucks County's only Mummers organization a few winters ago.
But on this Saturday afternoon, the school is turning into rubble.
Cranes and bulldozers are on the site as piles of bricks and remnants of the school building sit behind a fence.
Matthew Penge, president of The Warminster Historical Society, said he attended the final open house in January 2020, posting on the historical society's Facebook page that "many unanswered questions of what will be the future of the school loom."
In December 2022, the Uptown String Band used the closed school's gym to rehearse for the annual Mummer's Day Parade in Philadelphia. The Langhorne-based band said it needed more space.
The school opened its doors on Aug. 3, 1953. The classrooms' original desks and benches were created by school staff. During that year, 350 children were enrolled, the Historical Society said.
"For them tearing it down, I’m not sure what’s going in there," Penge said. "A few years ago, I toured it before they closed the doors and took some pictures. They mentioned the school was no longer being used. It was outdated."
According to the parish's history, St. John Bosco Parish was established on March 27, 1953, by the Archbishop of Philadelphia.
John Cardinal O’Hara was named Father and Peter J. Keenan was the first and founding pastor.
The newly established parish was situated within the boundaries of County Line Road from Township Line (Blair Mill Road) to Jacksonville Road to Street Road to Davisville Road to County Line Road to Davisville Road to the Penn-Central Railroad Bridge then by air line to the Reading Railroad Station at Fulmore Heights to Warminster Road to Mill Road to York Road to Horsham Road to Township Line (Blair Mill Road) to County Line Road.
Father Keenan converted the first floor of the rectory at the corner of Warminster and East County Line Road to be a chapel for Baptisms in the new Parish. Sites in Lacey Park (now Warminster Heights) and Fulmor Heights served as chapels where the parishioners participated in Sunday Mass.
In November 1954, the auditorium, which served as the church until 1991, and the classrooms were dedicated by John Cardinal O’Hara.
Six hundred students and their teachers moved into the new building.
The parish grew throughout the fifties and sixties.
In September 1962, more than 1,200 students attended Saint John Bosco School. This growth necessitated two additions to the original school building which brought the classroom total to 25 rooms.
A declining enrollment due to population changes, the building of new public school, and constriction of classes took place in the late sixties and early seventies. In 1974 the library, kitchen and Nurse’s Office were renovated.
(Photos by Dino Ciliberti/Patch)