After years of relative dormancy, it’s encouraging to see new construction and new opportunities springing up around the site of the former Powell High School.

From the 1950s through early 2000s, the old high school campus was central to the community and bustled with activity.

For decades, hundreds of students attended school in the three-story PHS building. Crowds filled the old gymnasium to cheer on the Powell Panthers, especially when they faced the Cody Broncs. Swimmers and divers spent endless hours training in the old pool. Young musicians and actors practiced and performed countless times in the old auditorium.

Whether you attended a concert, a basketball game or swim meet, the PHS campus on North Evarts Street was the place to be in Powell.

But over time, the old structures were torn down, leaving a gap in the center of Powell.

The old gymnasium and pool/auditorium were demolished in 2010. The three-story PHS building stood dark and vacant for several years until crews tore it down last summer.

When the buildings were replaced, the new structures were built elsewhere. A new Powell High School opened in 2008 on the other side of town and a new pool followed in 2010.

Meanwhile, those few blocks in the North Evarts Street area saw little activity in recent years.

Then all of a sudden, it started to change this year, as multiple projects moved forward.

To start with, the remaining one-story section of the old PHS underwent significant renovations and improvements over the past year. Renamed the Support Services Building, it houses several departments for Park County School District No. 1; students also returned to the building to attend the Pre-K Transition Program, special education classes and other programs.

Across the street, Moss Orthodontics purchased the land where the old auditorium/natatorium once stood, and construction is nearly finished on its new facility there. In addition to an orthodontics office, the building will house 307Health, a new direct primary care clinic. Drs. Mike Tracy and Bob Chandler plan to open their new clinic next month.

Nearby, construction is underway on Pinnacle Bank’s new Powell branch, slated to open later this year or in early 2016. Located south of the old PHS building near McDonald’s, the site used to be a parking lot.

On top of that, a new Powell Middle School will open in August. The new school is located to the east of the current structure and across from the old Powell High School. The modern middle school has many unique features that set it apart, and we’re looking forward to its completion.

As PHS alumni return to town this week for the 100th anniversary of the all-class reunion, they certainly will notice changes to the area where the old school buildings once stood. We’re glad that, instead of looking at vacant sites, they will see signs of growth, development and new beginnings.