The group working to save the Mt. Zion school property and find a use for it took another step forward last week when they appointed a steering committee to create the board members for a non-profit organization that will be called the Friends of Mount Zion Institute. They have some powerful and well-connected allies in this effort to save the old school building.

Michael Bedenbaugh with the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation said the organization stands ready to help the community, providing a “legal framework of protection” to protect the historic use of the building, and will act as the 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization to seek grants and to provide the tax credits if anyone contributes money towards saving Mt. Zion.

“Organization from here on out is going to be up to the community here,” he said.

The group also heard from Bill McMaster, representing the McMaster family, who has an interest in saving the building and turning it into something that will benefit the community.

“My interest and the interest of the McMaster family is two-fold: to bring together a nucleus of energy and talent in this community to seek ways to make that infrastructure a productive one for the Town. Our interest is in preserving that institution as a scholastic and community enrichment institution.

“Our family is not interested in apartments or retail on the Mt. Zion campus. What we are interested in is preserving the mission of Mt. Zion, which is the education of people in this part of the state,” he said.

McMaster said the ideal situation would seem to be for the McMaster family to serve as the catalyst for a lot o community philanthropy to restore the building and have Midlands Technical College occupy part of the building.

“Midlands Tech can;t use that entire infrastructure, but they can use a good portion of it. What could be better...than to have a college campus in Fairfield County?”

McMaster said he has talked to people at the state department of Commerce to learn what it takes to get more business and industry interested in coming to Fairfield County.

“County council is building a spec building to get a ticket to the dance...another thing (industries) are interested in is technical education. We are not on their dance card.

“The McMaster family would like to see the Mt. Zion infrastructure preserved, not because we’re in love with that building, or we think it’s especially beautiful, but because we know if that building goes, and that auditorium goes, a sense of inertia associated with Mt. Zion will be lost. And that will be very, very difficult to rekindle.”

He added that the McMaster family understands and appreciates the importance of the image to keeping the Mt. Zion Campus viable, because they think it would be a wonderful thing to have a college one block off of the main street.

He pointed out that Fairfield County sends some 300 students a day to the Midlands Tech campus in Richland County.

He said that the McMaster family believes that the reason nothing has been done with the Mt. Zion building up to this point was there was no group who wanted to put money into the gamble that was restoring and adapting the building.

“The philanthropy of our family is either going to go to the schools we’re more closely associated with, or its going to go to Mt. Zion, and it’s going to go to Mt. Zion, because we see there’s nobody left to stand up for that Old Lady on the hill there, and we see it, if we don’t come in and provide seed money, and come to Town council and say ‘we will put money on the table, money that we stand to lose...to delay the destruction of that building,’ so we can, at the 11th hour determine does it make sense to tear down some or all of the structure,” he said.

“What we want to do is establish a community resource for community enrichment there, and we have already put forth the money for a six-month stay of execution with the demolition company.

“We re willing to underwrite the replacement of the roof of all three of those buildings, and we are willing to challenge grant any additional money raised (matching it dollar for dollar) and leverage the philanthropic dollar as far as we can...to preserve that building,” he said.

McMaster pointed out that the building already has a strong support base in the alumni of the school, spread across the state, if not across the nation. The school has an alumni base that crosses gender, and race and political parties and all backgrounds.

“Think of any other historic building in our town that has integrated that much diversity throughout its history. That building has a an alumni base that blends everybody in this community...what a wonderful crucible to bring this community back together again, and have it as a community resource.

“(The McMaster family) is willing to write checks and put our passions forward, we’re also willing to listen to all of the legitimate criticisms of preserving that infrastructure...but unless the McMaster family thinks the Town of Winnsboro and its constituency is for this project, then we don’t want to commit our philanthropic dollars,” he cautioned.

“We don’t want this to be a McMaster project, we want it to be the Town’s project and we want it to include all of the Town,” he said.

The family needs to have a sense of how much the citizens of the Town want to preserve Mt. Zion, he said.

Bedenbaugh added the presence of Midlands Tech on the campus could be the centerpiece of the effort, and other uses for the other parts of the building would come, if that was the core use that was developed.

The home owners who live near the Mt. Zion campus were also represented in the form of citizen Brenda Miller, who had some definite ideas on the subject of saving and using the building.

She said that her concern stems from the affect on property values of the surrounding homes.

“I want to see a very selective use of the building. I want a business plan that does not have grants as a major component. We’ve got to have the proper development, developer and a preservationist.

“The standards for the project have got to be kept high, or don’t do it.

“And good enough is not okay; if this is not first-class, I don’t think we should waste our time.

“The Mt. Zion green is a fantastic thing, and it can be used as a monument path or a walking trail, whatever.

“I want us to look at our track record, and see how we’ve stayed with projects that we have started.

“Don’t lower the floor, raise the ceiling,” she added.

Bedenbaugh answered that the formation of this group was all about raising the ceiling and making the best project, with the most community involvement possible.

A Friends of Mt. Zion Institute steering committee was formed. Vicki Dark Dodds was chosen as the chair of the committee and Joan Conrad was asked to be recording secretary. Other members of the committee would be selected from the people who attend the next meeting of the steering committee on Thursday, May 8.

FOMZI seeking MZI alumni

The steering committee of the Friends of Mount Zion Institute (FOMZI) is looking for alumni from that prestigious institution. An effort is already underway to contact alumni through the organizers of the various class reunions, but FOMZI seeks to reach every alumni of the school that they can.

If you are an alumni of any class from Mt. Zion or know someone who is, the FOMZI group wants to hear from you. Contact them care of Jill Cincotta at Winnsboro Town Hall, (803) 635-4041, ext. 112 or through the Fairfield County Museum at (803) 635-9811.