NATCHEZ — Kingston residents received an update last week on progress rebuilding the Kingston School building that burned last year and were invited to provide feedback on how the structure may be rebuilt.

The former Kingston School, which was being used as a community center, burned down in 2016. While the building was covered by $92,000 in insurance, that money alone will not be enough to build the center like it was, said Donnie McIlwain, who heads the rebuilding committee.

“To put that exact building back in place, it would cost upward of $800,000 with the materials they used,” McIlwain said. “But we still want it to resemble the old structure. When you drive by it, hopefully you say, ‘Wow, that looks really close.’”

District 2 Supervisor David Carter said getting the money is his job, and he’s been working angles including with local state legislators Sen. Bob Dearing, D-Natchez, and Rep. Sam Mims, R-McComb, to try to acquire a one-to-one match from the state.

While the state budget is tricky this year, Carter said he thinks the community has a chance because it is not just seeking a handout but has money on the table.

Carter said he also believes the project has support with other members of the Adams County Board of Supervisors.

“Kingston is the only (community center) that’s a countywide park,” Carter said. “It was booked for 40 weeks, and 80 percent or more were not in District 2. This is an Adams County facility.”

Carter said he approached Natchez architect Amelia Salmon, originally from Kingston, and she was present at the meeting last week at Cliff Temple Baptist Church to ask residents what they would like to see in a community center.

“Chances are, we are only going to rebuild this one time,” Carter said. “We need to make it nice.”

Salmon said she loved the old community center and she was interested to hear how the community would use it.

“I have fond memories of the slide or just being in the building with the lovely wooden floors,” she said.

Salmon said the old building was approximately 3,200 square feet with a tiny kitchen and insufficient bathrooms. The facility was also difficult to access for handicapped people.

While Salmon said she loved the wooden floors, the tradeoff was that they generated a lot of noise.

The many windows also created a nice space for natural light, but Salmon asked residents if the new space needed to be full of windows.

Many in the crowd said a new facility did not have to be full of windows and they agreed about the noisy floor, some suggesting just pouring a concrete slab.

Some gathered argued the size of the kitchen was fine for functions, but expressed that the building did not have enough bathroom space.

Salmon also asked people about how often events flowed from inside to outside, and many peoples said reunions and weddings did flow in and out of the structure.

The ultimate driver, Salmon said, would be funding, but she said the community center could potentially be built in phases.

“I have not drawn a line,” Salmon said. “We have only had a conversation about how much we loved what was there, but also what we would like to see.”

McIlwain said he was initially hesitant of the idea to seek community input because too many opinions can spoil a project, but he said he believes Carter and Salmon care about the community center and could make it work.

“If Amelia is able to draw this up based on the entire community input, that’s going to be magic,” McIlwain said. “I was thinking just build the thing and don’t ask a lot of questions. But David cares too much and wants to take the time to get input. I think that is a good thing.”