MARQUETTE — The roof of a garage owned by Negaunee Public schools collapsed Wednesday morning.

The structure is located on the corner of West Case Street and North Pioneer Avenue near the Negaunee Middle School.

Negaunee Public Schools Superintendent Dan Skewis believes the collapse was caused by heavy snow.

“I’m sure it was the snow and I just think with the weight of the rain we’ve had over the last week or so it caused some weight on the beams of the roof that caused it to buckle,” Skewis said.

The collapse was noticed by individuals at the Negaunee Middle School, in close proximity of the garage, who reported the damage to Skewis, he said.

The garage was constructed in the early 1950s for a high school auto class, he added. The class dissolved in the early 1970s and has since been used as a “cold storage” for maintenance parts for the three school buildings.

The school’s plow truck is also typically stored in the structure, but was not inside during the collapse.

“There really is no substantial loss,” Skewis said. “We were able to go in and get several of the parts that had any value out of the building.”

The future of the structure is yet to be determined and an insurance adjustor will be coming to assess the garage early next week, he added.

“In a perfect world, we would demo it and put something up similar in size to it,” he said.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206.