ELSANOR, Alabama — Residents have been given more time to save the original Elsanor School building after school officials confirmed this past week that new classrooms slated for construction beginning this summer would be built at a different location on campus.

“I have been told that they are not going to tear it down at least for another year,” said Natasha Beverly Pratt, a former student who has organized a Go Fund Me account and is accepting other donations to help save the school building. “After that, we have no guarantee, so at least that gives us more time to save the building.”

Constructed in 1913, the 103-year-old building served as the first one-room school house. The building was moved to its current location when a new school was constructed in 1925.

There it served first as a teacherage, housing five different principal/teachers and their families and as a residence for a few single teachers. It served a number of years as a kindergarten classroom and is currently serving as a second-grade classroom.

With construction of a new classroom building on the horizon this summer, officials were looking at removing the building from the Elsanor School campus on Highway 90 east of Robertsdale. But officials confirmed Thursday that the construction will proceed at a different location on the campus.

“That is good news,” said newspaper columnist and former school secretary Jeanette Ryan, who made a push at the end of the summer break last year to save the school.

The building, which was marked several years ago with a banner and shield as a historic building by the Baldwin County Historical Development Commission, has fallen into disrepair.

Two letters, written by Ryan, were published in The Times Independent after plans were announced to demolish the building. After the last letter was published in March, Pratt, whose mother Bobbie Beverly teaches at Robertsdale High School and herself teaches at St. Patrick Catholic School in Robertsdale, decided to open a Go Fund Me account in an attempt to save the school building.

“The Baldwin Heritage Museum in Elberta said they would be happy to take the building if we could pay to get it moved,” Pratt said in an earlier interview, adding that she had received an estimate of $8,000 to $10,000 to move the building. “The building has always been such a large part of the community and we wanted to do something to preserve it.”

In November, school officials presented plans for Elsanor School as part of the Baldwin County School System’s Pay As You Go program.

Plans call for a 12,500-square-foot facility which would add 10 additional classrooms, eliminating eight portable classrooms on the school campus. While there is no specific date on the start of the construction, bids for the project, estimated at nearly $1.8 million, are expected to be let in May, according to information released at a special meeting Monday, April 11.

According to the Go Fund Me account, the project raised just more than $1,000 from April 6 to April 22. A post office box has also been set up to receive donations, which is checked weekly, Pratt said.

If you would like to donate, go to gofundme.com/4yxq37ps, or from the home page, search for Robertsdale, Alabama. You can also mail your donation to the Baldwin County Reading Council, P.O. Box 751, Robertsdale, AL 36567. Please make your check payable to the Baldwin County Reading Council.