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The district will consider whether to keep the school open. The building needs a lot of pricey work, and school officials made recommendations to close the school, York City School District Supt. Sharon Miller said at a recent town hall meeting.
At that event, Brad Harman, director of buildings and grounds for the district, said Davis Elementary is in "dire need" of repairs.
The district would have to spend more than $5 million just to bring the building up to code and classroom standards, he said.
Davis, which is in Spring Garden Township, in a residential urban zone, Lynn Rinehart, the township's zoning officer, said this week.
The building can be used as a school because it is "grandfathered," she said.
"The school is older than the zoning," she said.
If the building were demolished, possible uses of the site could include a single- or two-family dwelling, she said.
A special exception to the township's zoning could allow the existing building to be converted for a variety of uses, including a house of worship, rooming house or group quarters, she said.
Spring Garden manager Greg Maust said the school is treated like any other property in the township. It's policed and must adhere to township regulations, he said.
"Really, there's no difference," he said
Local author and historian Scott D. Butcher said information indicates that Davis was built in 1929 as a junior high school and expanded in 1952.
Another source has the building being dedicated in 1931 and mentions that Edgar Fahs Smith Junior High School was built using the exact plan, Butcher wrote in an e-mail.
The board has not decided what to do with the building, Jonathan Heintzman, York City School District spokesman, said on Friday.
"I assume that it's going to be talked about," he said.
Former students would miss school
Although the fate of Phineas Davis Elementary is unknown, some of its former students say they would be sad to see it go.
Patricia Thumma has happy memories of attending Phineas Davis Junior High in the 1940s. The building was grand, bright and clean, with an easy to use floor plan, she said.
Her husband, the late Harvey Thumma Sr., also went to the school and was on the football team. The mascot was "the Davis bee," said Patricia Thumma, 75.
Her son, Harvey Thumma, 52, of York New Salem, attended Phineas Davis in the 1970s when it was a junior high school.
He said he hopes the district can maintain the building as a school.
"It would be sad to see it go," Harvey Thumma said. "It was just a really cool building ... huge ... It was just like being at an old castle."
It's a shame the building wasn't maintained over the years, he said.
"I think it's really sad ... they tear down one school after another," he said.
Donald Leik, 73, of Springettsbury Township attended the school in the 1950s.
"It was a junior high school then," he said. "I only lived about a half-mile from there ... A lot of kids walked."
If the building is still in good shape, the district should remodel and use it, he said.
