After 109 years of serving as the educational fortress for countless children, "Taps" was played and the flag was lower for the last time at Durfee Magnet School Friday afternoon. Durfee, standing on the northeast corner ofGrand Avenue and Jasper Street, is a casualty of time and the school district's budget crunch. Earlier this year, the Decatur Board of Education voted unanimously to close Durfee, sealing its fate. Sheriff Roger Walker, who attended Durfee School, was on hand to help lower the flag in front of the school, for the last time, as students, faculty members and parents gathered to watch the end of school in that building forever. Closing Durfee will save the revenue-starved school district about $300,000 a year and is part of the board's $7.2 million in budget cuts that have taken place since the voters rejected a $1.50 per $100 of equalized assessed valuation in November. Ironically, a school that now represents too much expense to operate was or Pledge of Allegiance is recited. iginally built in 1892 at a cost of $13,409.64 on lot nine, block one of Powers' second addition. According to public records, the lot for the school was purchased from Mrs. Caroline M. Powers on Oct. 31, 1890, for $1,252.50 and at the time "was considered one of the best school sites in the city." The Powers name was prominent in early Decatur history as George and Samuel Powers were early settlers who came to Decatur from Alabama. What had once been part of the Samuel Powers farm, would become home for a school building that would serve the community for well over a century. The name for the school was first suggested by John K. Warren, a member of the board of education, who believed it should b Flag is lowered for final time. e named after H. B. Durfee. Durfee, who was a native of Ohio, taught school and practiced law in his home state before moving to Decatur in 1849. Eleven years later, when the newly-organized Macon County government elected officials, Durfee became chairman of the board of supervisors. He also served on the board of education for 15 years. MORE SPACE NEEDED By 1900 more space was needed at the school, so an additional two rooms were added to the north side at a cost of $4,125.83. A year later, another two-room addition was added to the southeast corner of the building at a cost of $4,694.00. When that addition was constructed, the building had eight rooms, but the school's population kept growing -- along with the need for more space. Another big addition to the school was constructed in 1915, which consisted of two stories and provided eight full-sized rooms, and other rooms which were designated at the time for the branch library, an ungraded room, a manual training room, a domestic science room. an office for the principal, an auditorium, a gymnasium, basement and shower rooms. Because the new addition housed so much of what was happening at Durfee, it became the main part of the building and the earlier structure became its annex. Then, in 1924 a ten room unit was added to the building at a cost of $58,000, an imposing price at the time. The new addition provided Durfee with a junior high school unit and students from the northeast part of the city attended there until Johns' Hill and Centennial junior high school buildings were constructed. ONE OF THE LARGEST SCHOOLS IN DECATUR By 1931, Durfee had grown to be one of the largest schools in Decatur. Before the junior high students were transferred to Johns Hill and Centennial, enrollment at Durfee reached 1,200 students. Durfee was the second school in Decatur to organize a Mothers Club (in 1913) following the lead of Pugh School. The school played an important role in supporting local residents during the years of the Depression as the Parents' Club, which had by then become the Parent-Teachers Association, helped many of the families down on their luck with a nutrition kitchen that was maintained for needy children. During one two-month period, nearly 4,000 meals were served. Some 442 children from 215 families received clothing and 423 pairs of new shoes and 150 pairs of used shoes were distributed. The group also paid for the cost of repairing 214 pairs of shoes. During one extremely difficult period 135 children in the school received haircuts and "even much-needed baths". GLORY DAYS ARE OVER Now, the glory days of Durfee are over and the students and teachers, and parents, have said goodbye to a familiar structure that served them well for generations. When schools re-open in the fall, for the first time in 109 years, Durfee will not be among them. It's hallways and classrooms will be full of memories, but empty of children. The shouts of youthful exuberance will have been replaced by the muffled sounds of the traffic outside that cut through the silence of what remains of H. B. Durfee School.