photo by: Warren Scott

A public auction will once again be held for the former Wellsburg Middle School, now occupied by Brooke County Schools’ alternative learning center, at 10 a.m. today.

Bids again will be accepted for the former Wellsburg Middle School, with a public auction set today for the school and about 70,828 square feet of property.

The auction will be held at 10 a.m. at the school, with a minimum bid of $225,000 set for the property.

The amount is slightly less than the $250,000 minimum bid that had been set for it when it went up for bid on Aug. 4.

No bids were received at the auction, though three parties had registered as potential bidders.

Under state code, public school property must be sold through a public auction, and all bids are subject to the local school board’s approval.

Superintendent Jeff Crook said then a party had expressed interest in buying the property or the board would not have moved forward with the auction.

Overlooking the Ohio River, the property includes the football field where the Brooke High School football team played for many years even after the consolidated high school had opened.

Built in 1927, the three-story building had begun as Wellsburg High School until it and high schools in Follansbee and Bethany were closed with the consolidation of their student bodies into one county high school in 1969.

It served as a middle school from that point until 2018, when it and the former Follansbee Middle School were merged into Brooke Middle School. It has since become home to the Bruin Bridge, an alternative school established for students found not adaptive to traditional classroom settings, and the Wellsburg Police Department and the Brooke County Family Support Center, which offers educational programs and activities for families with young children.

Any bids received Monday will be considered at a future meeting of the Brooke County school board.

In recent years, the school board has sold four properties.

Follansbee Middle School was purchased by Ewusiak Development, where it has established office space for its operations while leasing other areas for several businesses and the New Day Christian Center, and a church that occupies the field house once used for the school’s physical education classes.

The L.B. Millsop Primary School in Weirton and Beech Bottom Primary School buildings now are occupied by a day care center and a private Christian school, respectively.

Also sold at auction, Colliers Primary School is unoccupied.