A grade school displaced by a massive church fire in Benwood will permanently move to Moundsville and receive a new name.
The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register reports Saints James & John School has operated at the former St. Francis Xavier Grade School building in Moundsville since a March 30 fire destroyed the adjoining St. John Catholic Church.
The school’s new name will be All Saints Catholic School and it will reopen at the former Xavier school next fall.
According to the Wheeling-Charleston Catholic Diocese, the poor condition of the school building’s exterior components, in addition to the fire damage, factored into the diocese’s decision not to reopen the school in Benwood.
Diocese spokesman Bryan Minor says the school will continue to teach 80 students in preschool through eighth grades.