Keys to success.

is a community in Bath County, Kentucky, with a population in the city limits of about 400. In 1910, Sharpsburg School was built to be a fireproof replacement for several one-room school buildings in the area. In 1936, a grant from the Works Progress Administration was used to construct a gym for the school. The architectural style, distinctive and long-lasting, is called WPA Architecture or WPA Rustic Architecture. This style emphasized the use of native materials and was widely used on gymnasiums, amphitheaters and lodges. In 2002, when the school building deteriorated to the point of being unsafe, it was demolished. The gym, with its 18-inch thick stone masonry walls and metal structure, later was used as a junkyard and farm implements store. Finally, the gym's roof and all organic materials decomposed and littered the former crawl space of the building, becoming a community eyesore. When the owner of the property, who was a former resident of Sharpsburg, offered to donate the old Sharpsburg gym and school grounds to the city, Mayor Dorothy Clemons and other city officials contacted the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection's Brownfield Redevelopment Program for assistance and were appreciative of the help they received. " We called the Kentucky Brownfield Redevelopment Program for advice, " says Clemons. " A staff member talked with us and did an assessment. Later, we brought in a bulldozer to clear the brush and undergrowth from the inside. During this process, contractors removed kitchen appliances, tractor parts, car parts, wood flooring, roofing and more than 500 old tires that were found in the ground. " The city wanted to renovate the property and provide a community center for the people of Sharpsburg.