Heavy equipment from the Peter J. Radocha and Sons firm of Coaldale moved onto the lot at the former St. Mary’s Parochial School in Coaldale yesterday and quickly began the task of demolishing the once stately three-story building.

When the work is completed, plans are to expand the parking lot now used by parishioners attending services at St. Mary’s.

The school was built after ground was broken on Nov. 18, 1914. After Marian High School opened in the mid-1960s, St. Mary’s continued to hold elementary school for several more years before the building was closed in about 1967. It has remained there, vacant and decaying, a reminder of Coaldale in the good old days.