Today I heard that one of our most alluring, hauntingly creepy and historic locations in Jacksonville burned down this morning.
Annie Lytle School, known to many as ‘School 4’ lost its final battle with the city, vandals, and multiple fires it has faced over the many years.
Growing up and passing it on the old I10/95 exchange, the building with balloons always caught my eye. I remember asking “what is that place?” To be answered with “just an old building”. Still I would stare at is while passing by in such awe. Something drew me to it and I knew I had to learn about this building.
As years passed the new 10/95 exchange began to develop, paint chipped and boards fell, fences did not exist and I would find myself sitting on the steps of this old school watching traffic, and peering in begging to get the courage to “jump through the hole into the darkness”. Fearing what was lurking in the darkness I fell victim to the fear from all those horror stories I heard about the place. From the janitor/principal being a cannibal to the boiler exploding and killing all the students I began to visualize all the over exaggerated stories while peering in the sole broken window.
Annie Lytle School
I eventually would walk the perimeter peering in each little break or crack I could to get a glimpse of the inside. I noticed the decrepit old house that was behind the school, since torn down, and tried to visualize who lived there. Was it the old janitor? Was it the principal? Or was it just an old house? I never got to see the inside of that overgrown property before it met its demise.
Annie Lytle School, Boiler Room
In High School I would tell the tales I heard of Ole’ Annie Lytle School, and we would dare to go inside but imaginations eventually would get the best of us.
Finally I mustered the courage to go through the tiny window to the left of the main entrance. My eyes adjusted and I was met with the most thrilling feeling of excitement. The halls were dark, barely any graffiti, doors were still intact and the walls still had some classwork on them. I wandered around the halls peeking into each classroom with amazement. Then I found the auditorium. The ceiling was still there, the stage was in great shape aside form a pentacle painted on the floor.
As I walked the halls I began to visualize how the place looked before it was shut down. For a moment I swore I could hear the children laughing and playing. The more I roamed the more I was amazed at the condition of the place, yes it was dusty and yes there was some vandalism but the majority of the building was just in need of a good cleaning.
I left the school and told my friends of all the interesting things I saw and begged them to join me on my next excursion. They declined.
A few years passed and 5 Points was the home for the “freaks”. Any and every walk of life would gather at Fuel Coffehouse or catch a show at Club 5/Marquee. My roommate at the time and I decided to go for a walk in the park and I told her of School 4 and how amazing it was inside. We decided to go in. The newly erected fence around it was wide open as were the metal doors that closed the front entrance.
Auditorium
I immediately noticed that the old doors that closed off the front hall on the left were no longer hanging. And there were obvious signs of vandalism. We strolled around the grounds and ended up sitting on the upper balcony for a while just watching the city. It was calming.
There was one evening when, after a tiff, my ride left me in 5 Points and it was getting dark, I had no phone, no money, and no way to get home. So I decided to go back to School 4 and stay the night. I opened the little closet door in the front of the building and cleared out a space in the back corner. I knew nobody would know I was there or think to look behind all the metal electric equipment. It was a little chilly and some creepy noises could be heard when cars passed but other than that it was quite peaceful. To this day, many of my friends still are in awe as to how I was “brave enough to stay”.
Top Roof Corridor
I went in many more times after that just to scope out the place and share more stories of the history. In early 2002 I started looking up as much as I could on the location only to hit a brick wall over and over about why it was shut down and never reopened. Stories of asbestos, vandalism, failing economy, new schools and so on were littering the results. To this day I have not found a conclusive statement as to why it closed in the first place.
Years passed again and 5 Points changed. From the hip and trendy scene to the more uppity feel, many stores closed including Fuel and Club 5. Patrons vanished one by one as the area transformed once more.
While visiting my old friend from High School I decided to stop by Annie Lytle and found that the ceiling in the auditorium had collapsed. It was pretty fresh and fear that more may fall while I was inside rushed me out.
Annie Lytle School
On my next visit the roof was cleared out, there was new wood on the windows and more attempts to keep people out of the establishment. This did not work as many doors and windows were still kicked in by urban explorers, transients, and vandals.
More of the structure now had paint, holes, and evidence of small fires and living spaces. I could see that the building was inevitably dying.
The once wooden upper halls now housed many plants, weeds, and vines. All the doors had been kicked off the hinges. More and more holes were in the walls from scrappers going for copper pipes.
As I returned more and more for photo shoots, to explore and to just visit I would see that more of the building was being torn apart. Upon my last visit there were busted televisions that were tossed down the stairs, the walls in the classrooms were busted nearly down, more holes were put in the floor and the boiler had been stripped of all of its functioning parts.
Still, the building held a peculiar allure.
This morning I heard the news of the fire and though my heart sank, I thought of a dying soul waiting for that final moment to be free and though we have lost an iconic piece of our urban culture, I know the memories of Annie Lytle School will forever hold strong in the ones that truly respected her. 
