NATCHEZ &8212; Margaret Martin High School&8217;s band hall is officially no more.

The demolition was finished around the beginning of June, City Engineer David Gardner said.

Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux Mathis said the building was a danger to those around it.

&8220;It was crumbling,&8221; Mathis said Thursday. &8220;It was roped off in yellow because it was dangerous.&8221;

The band hall was torn down because it could not be rebuilt, she said.

The board of aldermen approved ending a contract with a firm who knocked down what was left of the structure behind the old high school.

Architect Charles Moroney designed some renovations to the building in the 1980s.

&8220;We put a new roof on it, did some partitioning inside, spruced it up,&8221; Moroney said.

To Frank Heard Jr., the band hall, built in the 1930s, was his father&8217;s office. Frank Heard Sr. was the first band director at the school, then Natchez High School, Heard said.

He attended an elementary school down the road and walked to the band hall after school.

&8220;I remember my dad had band rehearsal the last period every day,&8221; Heard said. &8220;When school was out, I would go to the band hall and wait for rehearsal to be over. Then we&8217;d walk home.&8221;

Heard said even though he could see it deteriorating over the years, it was strange to see the building gone.

&8220;I didn&8217;t know the band hall had been torn down until I drove back there in May,&8221; he said. &8220;It disappeared.&8221;