(Texas Historical Commission)

Despite several plans to save a 94-year-old high school in Denison, Tex., wrecking crews began demolishing the Spanish Mission-style building last month.

Denison High School has been abandoned since 1986, when a new high school opened. It has been used as a haunted house since then.

The Texas Historical Commission found a developer who was interested in restoring the building, located on Main Street, but the company dropped out after fruitless meetings with city officials, who want to use the site for a new library. Preservation Texas named the building one of the state's most endangered places this year.

A nonprofit, Denison Heritage, bought the building but couldn't raise money for its multi-million-dollar restoration. Earlier this year, the group turned over the deed to the city, which raised $500,000 for the demolition.

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