ROANOKE TIMES  
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996            TAG: 9602230006
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                PAGE: E-3  EDITION: METRO  
MEMO: Also ran in Current Feb. 25, 1996

MUCH HAS CHANGED IN A HALF-CENTURY

Many of the institutions Betty McCormick remembers have disappeared or changed since she attended Monroe Elementary School 52 years ago.

Monroe, at Melrose Avenue and l6th Street Northwest, served elementary and junior high students. In 1947, Monroe Junior High School was opened at Carroll Avenue and 19th Street Northwest.

The earlier Monroe became Melrose Elementary, which no longer exists. Today, the space is occupied by Northwest Child Development Center.

The 19th Street school now houses the Roanoke Academy for Math and Science, a magnet school.

The Poff Federal Building sits on the Franklin Road site once occupied by Lee Junior High School, and Jefferson High School has become the newly renovated Jefferson Center housing several city and cultural organizations.

Cornett Business College was downtown at 17A Franklin Road, where Roanoke Valley Driver Training is now.

Clover Creamery sold out to Meadow Gold while McCormick's husband was employed there. Today, traffic on Interstate 581 zooms over the spot where it stood at 501 First St. S.E.

In Norwich, Ace Steel Inc. operates where McCormick once worked at the Roanoke Box plant.

Nell Wilbourne has fewer changes to explain - her alma mater, Farmville State Teachers' College has become Longwood College.

Also, the Norfolk and Western Railway is now part of Norfolk Southern Corp.

LENGTH: Short :   36 lines