In Goshen, a flagpole that had gone unused for decades flew the American flag once again Friday morning.
Army veteran Don Henke and Mayor Tom McCraw, who served in the Marine Corps, worked together to raise the flag outside of the old Goshen Elementary School along Virginia Avenue.
The building had long served as a school for Goshen children, with the elementary school closing in 1984. Vice Mayor Steve Bickley said he thinks that was the last time a flag had been flown at the site.
“It’ll be the first time it’s had a flag up there for about 30 years or more,” he said in an interview with The News-Gazette on July 2.
Both Henke and McCraw served in the Vietnam War. Henke said he was the one who got the ball rolling for the flag raising. He reached out to BARC Electric Cooperative, who sent an employee and a bucket truck to install a rope on the flagpole for free.
Bickley said he thinks the flag raising represents a broader “renaissance” in Goshen.
“For many, many years this town has been ignored,” he said. “It’s been pushed to the backburner.”
In 2000, Goshen had a population of just over 400. The town’s biggest employer, the Stillwater Worsted Mills plant, closed in 2003. As of 2020, the population was down to 338.
But Bickley said the town government is taking steps to draw in more families and build back. Last year, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development awarded Goshen a federally funded Community Development Grant for $1.25 million. The grant will finance a new community center that will house several community service organizations.
Bickley said he hopes the old school property can see a revitalization of its own.
“I’m going to look at this, raising this flag on this property, as the beginning of hope for this property that we can actually get something to happen here,” he said.
McCraw and Bickley both said there’s no concrete plan for what to do with the school building, which is owned by Will Harris. But McCraw said he’s optimistic.
“I’m a dumb old Marine. I can’t even spell ‘quit’ or ‘give up,’” he said. “So we’re going to do something.”
