To email the Grand Rapids Public Schools administration and ask them to preserve Aberdeen Academy’s sculptures, click here.
Aberdeen Academy, built in 1929, is entering its last school year this fall and will be demolished in 2026, following the construction of a new K–5 school being built in Aberdeen Park. The new state-of-the-art school will cost $38 million to construct and be attended by students who would have formerly attended Aberdeen and Palmer Elementary schools. Learn more here.
GRPS currently plans to save just a few of Aberdeen Academy’s many historic sculptures and place them inside the new school. The rest will be demolished along with the school, most likely becoming road gravel. The sculptures of Aberdeen Academy have been part of the daily life of neighborhood residents for ninety-six years, connecting our present lives to those of the past. They are the oldest public artworks in the Cheshire neighborhood, having been on display for over half of Grand Rapids’ history. As we celebrate the 175th anniversary of our city, we believe our neighborhood’s artistic history is part of that legacy and worthy of preservation. Thus we advocate that twelve of Aberdeen’s sculptures be professionally removed and installed in Aberdeen Park as public art. In this way we ensure our neighborhood’s visual history for future generations.
Recreating the four terra cotta eagles of the school would cost $68,000, according to a June 2025 quote from Boston Valley Terra Cotta.
The sculptures we are asking to be installed in Aberdeen Park.
1940s photographs of Aberdeen Academy (then Aberdeen School), courtesy of Grand Rapids Public Library.
2024 film and digital photos of Aberdeen Academy
Cick here to email the Grand Rapids Public Schools administration and ask them to preserve Aberdeen Academy’s sculptures.
To share this cause on Facebook, visit the Save Aberdeen FB page.
What happens if we do nothing?
Grand Rapids most recent school to be demolished serves as an example. The former Kensington Elementary (1925–2024), was torn down without a preservation plan. All of its sculptures were either sent to the landfill or resold by the demolition company.
The former school site, now a green space with no trace of the school’s visual history.
Whose website is this exactly? This is the website (and photographs) of Zachary Trebellas, a local artist passionate about cultural preservation. He is an eight-year resident of the Creston neighborhood and is working together with other concerned Grand Rapidians to preserve the treasures of Aberdeen Academy.