The Mary Packer Cummings Memorial School in Packerton is nearing completion of a renovation and will soon reopen as a third location for the alternative school, Educare.

Over the past two years, Donald “Duke” Blauch, the building owner, has rebuilt nearly every facet of the 10,000 sq. ft. building except its foundation, bricked stairways and exterior walls.

Blauch, whose last large renovation was the YMCA building in Jim Thorpe, purchased the Packerton school building at an auction for $93,250 in 2003.

“They don’t build schools like this anymore,” said Blauch. “There’s a stone foundation, the stairs are made of 2-1/2-inch thick slate, and the exterior walls are 20-inches thick. If anything happens, this will be one of the last buildings standing in Carbon County.”

The building consists of three floors—a basement and two upper levels. Blauch had hoped to have the building open by now, he is nearly finished with the interior, but had to make additions to meet current codes.

The largest item was the addition of a wheelchair-accessible ramp from the parking lot to the first floor. Because of the limited area and the rise of several feet to the first floor, the ramp was designed as a serpentine structure—functional but awkward. Blauch received a waiver and was not required to provide handicapped access to the second floor. The codes required a second egress to be added to the second floor.

The school was put up for auction by the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit in 2003. They had last used it as a storage lot for their minibuses. After they relocated this function to Walnutport, the IU had no need for the property and put it up for auction. 

“I saw an ad in the newspaper,” Blauch said. “The building was up for public auction. I must have driven past this place a thousand times and never looked at it.” The Mary Packer Cummings Memorial School building is on a ridge above Rt. 209, about 100 yards north of the Packerton Dip entrance to the recently razed Packerton Shop building.
Stone steps, overgrown with weeds, lead from Rt. 209 to the school. The building faces Rt. 209 and the Lehigh River. When the school was opened in 1914, there were few automobiles and the children walked to school along the Mauch Chunk Road, then ascended the stairs to the front entrance.
When Rt. 209 was completed and opened for traffic, the rear entrance, which afforded parking, became the main entrance. Blauch left the front entrance the way it was—but built a new glass-enclosed atrium entrance at the rear.
After taking ownership, Blauch’s inspection noticed minor water damage. “The first thing I did was put a new roof on it,” he said. “It had a slate roof—I put on an architectural shingle roof. Once you have a good roof, you are in good shape.”
Blauch replaced all the electrical, plumbing and heating equipment. The former heating system was coal fired. He removed 75,000 pounds of iron and steel boiler equipment, replacing it with two 300 pound high-efficiency natural gas on-demand heater units.
Three years ago, Blauch was approached by Joe Trimmel, a co-owner of Educare with Rich Caffrey. When Trimmel was director of juvenile probation, he was one of the first tenants at Blauch’s renovated YMCA building. “He said he was looking for more space and this was perfect,” Blauch said.
Ironically, the other partner, Rich Caffrey, was the last person to manage the building when he worked for the IU. “He knew the building had a lot of potential,” Blauch said.
After coming to an agreement, Blauch hired architect, Gary Hitzemann of New Ringgold, to design an interior suitable to Educare’s needs and to meet the codes for the new school. He hired Scott Stenack to install the electrical and Rick Blocker for the plumbing and heating.

With its location on Rt. 209, perched on a hill overlooking the Packerton Railroad Yards and the Lehigh River, The site could have been converted into a mansion or apartments. “A lot of people came in with ideas,” said Blauch.
“I wanted to keep it as a school,” he continued. “It was built as a school and it should remain as a school. I think Educare will take good care of it.”
The interior was designed for Educare. They have counseling rooms, psychologist rooms, offices for staff, and a cafeteria in the basement where food is brought in. There is a multipurpose room in the basement that once served as an auditorium and a gym. It had basketball hoops at each end. The space is being used for storage during the renovation.

Packerton was named for industrialist Asa Packer who purchased a large tract of land from George and John Dolon to build his Lehigh Valley Railroad’s Packerton Railroad Yards on what had been the farming village of Dolonsburg. The adjacent Lehigh River-side town of Burlington was destroy in the flood of 1862 and acquired by Packer.

Asa Packer built two grade schools and a high school for this town that housed his workers. A stone, from the original 1873 high school, survives and will be displayed in the renovated building. In 1885, Packerton became an independent school district.

After the death of Asa Packer’s sole surviving child, Mary Packer Cummings in 1912, her estate funded the construction of an eight-room brick school building in 1914 at a cost of $40,000.

In 1960, the building was used for Special Education. When Special Education was mainstreamed into the school systems in the 1980s, the Packerton School was used for Vocation/Technical Education, a predecessor to the Carbon Career & Technical Institute.