Public School Number Four can be seen easily from I-95, a vacant, rundown building that hoodlums go into for adventure and hobos for a place to sleep or hide. The school originated as a wooden schoolhouse back in the late 1800s. As the population in the city grew, more rooms were added to the school and it became a fire hazard. The city moved the school back from the park in 1917, housing it in its present brick and concrete neoclassical structure. Giant columns with stairs lead to the entrance. When standing on its front steps, you could see Riverside Park until the construction of the highways between the park and the school in the 1950s.

In the late '90s, there was talk of trying to demolish the building in order to put condominiums in its place. There was a lot of protest that it was a historical building and it should not be torn down. The city listened, but put no money into fixing it up, saying that it would be more expensive to do that than to demolish it. For nearly half a century, the school has sat vacant and crumbled. As it falls into further decay, the talk of tearing it down re-emerges.

School was held here until 1960. For a while afterward, it was used as a space for offices and storage, and around 1970, the building became completely abandoned. Some people consider it the most haunted building in Jacksonville and spread crazy stories about what went on to back it up, some heinous and some purely accidental. It is said that there was an explosion in the boiler room down in the basement that killed several kids. One silly rumor is that the principal was a cannibal, and anytime a misbehaving student was sent to his office, the kid was put into a closet the principal would frequent for his midday snack before burning the remains. And of course, who could forget about the janitor who would kidnap children and burn them alive in the boiler room? After months of children disappearing, one got away and caused an explosion in the boiler room, setting fire to the entire east wing. There are also rumors of teachers and janitors going crazy and shooting up the school, as well as various rapes, murders and satanic rituals. When it comes to an old building that does look like it should be the backdrop for the next hit horror film, there are no records to back up these ridiculous stories of psychotic janitors and cannibalistic principals.

The outside of the school is covered in vines, small trees, and shrubs. The brick is weathered, and the once white concrete columns are now a dingy gray. Getting to the school in the first place is an adventure in itself. Because of all trespass prevention, there is almost no way to get in. Most of the entrances people have created have been blocked off. After climbing up a hill, there is a hole in the fence just the right size to fit through. Once you crawl inside the gate, a small pathway made from people walking through the knee-high grass leads to the main destination. It’s weird walking up the front steps, just thinking of the kids who studied there many years ago walking up those same steps for a completely different purpose. They were able to use the front doors, unlike people today who crawl in through a hole in the plywood covered windows.

Immediately after crawling in the window, your feet hit the debris covering the ground--old boards and pipes and doors. There is dust everywhere and no shortage of graffiti, some of it beautiful, some of it nothing more than marks left to say someone was here. There are broken TVs and empty spray paint cans scattered about, as well as beer cans for those kids who wanted an out of the ordinary place to party. It’s funny how things change for a building within a span of 50 years.

After walking past a few classrooms, you get to the mighty auditorium. The roof is gone and native plants grow everywhere, nature taking back this magnificent structure. There are still parts of the roof amongst the plants. The main stage is straight ahead, covered in spray paint, and if you look up you see nothing but the night sky. There are holes up on the stage where you could go down into the basement if you wanted.

Upstairs is scarier than the rest of the building because in some parts the floor is weak, and you could fall through if you weren't careful. When you walk to the front of the school, facing I-95, you can just stand there and watch the cars go by. There is a place where a projector or lighting fixtures most likely went, and you can stand up directly in front of the stage.

People aren’t joking when they say that School Number Four is on police watch, because after getting out of the gate a cop pulls up and starts questioning us, telling us that we need to be careful, that it's a very dangerous building where many dangerous people reside. He let us go and told us to go home.

Inside that school, I couldn’t help but close my eyes and think of what this school had been like in its heyday, children running around, laughing, talking, running to their next class.You can almost hear them. It's as though they're still here, lost. I wonder if they know it.