1937 - Washington School - Shawnee, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 35° 19.199 W 096° 55.715
14S E 688295 N 3910497
Built in 1937, as a project of the Federal Emergency Administration, it has been abandoned since the late 1990s.
Waymark Code: WMWA22
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 07/31/2017
Views: 0
Washington School was constructed in 1937 by one of the New Deal programs of Franklin Roosevelt. The school was an elementary school, and then in the 1980s when a "grade center" system was established, it became the school for all 5th graders. It was shut down in the late 1990s and is now vacant and in poor condition.
This is a two-story brick building with a one-story wing on the west end and a two-story wing on the east, with its basement fully above ground on the east end. The school has the feel of Art Deco with its horizontal lines, and two large bay window extensions at the rear. It stands on the grounds of Farrell Park.
The main entrance facing north has three doors under a concrete canopy. There is a two-door entrance into the auditorium. Decoration is established by the use of lines of darker colored brick and the placement of circular masonry plaques on the front showing George Washington, and an eternal flame.
There is a two-side cornerstone on the northeast corner which reads:
"Laid by the M.W. Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. (square and compasses emblem) A.D. 1937 A.L. 5937 / Dave H. Wilson Grand Master"
"WASHINGTON SCHOOL / Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works Project No. 1166 / BOARD OF EDUCATION / W.M. Gallaher - President / Ollie Hickman - Vice-President / Geo. K. Hunter - Clerk / Stanley Grimes - Treasurer / Myrl Warren - J.D. Stacy - C.F. Paramore - O.C. Brown - W. Henley Williams - Members / Thomas M. Stevens - Attorney / A.L. Burks - Superintendent / A.C. Davis & Son - Architects / Cowen Const. Co. - Contractor".
In the two decades the building has been vacant and not in use, it was weathered with mold and overgrowth, with many windows broken out. Photos of the interior of the building can be seen on the website of AbandonedOK.com (
visit link)
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