1934 - Helena Middle School - Helena, MT - Dated Buildings and Cornerstones on Waymarking.com

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1934 - Helena Middle School - Helena, MT

in Dated Buildings and Cornerstones

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 421414 N 5160729

The Helena Middle School was built not once, but twice using PWA funding.

Built in 1934-35 and dedicated on September 21 1935, the then Helena High School was open for just weeks when earthquakes struck the city of Helena, severely damaging the brand new school. A structural engineer, upon examining the damage, proclaimed that the severity of the damage was the fault of not only the earthquakes, but almost everyone concerned:

Writing in "Building Standards," a technical magazine for December, R. M. Beanfield of Los Angeles, a structural engineer of standing on the Pacific coast, has this to say about the failure of the Helena High School to stand the earthquake strain, after he had made a personal investigation and spent much time going over the structure:

"Materials failed, not because of their inherent weakness, but by reason of their unintelligent use and combination, improper designs, together with poor workmanship and construction."
From the Helena Independent Record, January 10, 1936

Unskilled laborers performed much of the work which should have been done by highly skilled builders, the architects and engineers responsible for the structure gave no consideration to earthquake survival, the materials specified for the building were both ill considered in terms of their ability to withstand earthquakes and were used incorrectly, the PWA insisted on keeping workers employed on projects such as this, regardless of their abilities or lack thereof.

As a result, the building was 75% destroyed. The original brick building was rebuilt using reinforced concrete, this time in a quite attractive Art Deco Style. With the construction of a new high school, this school became the Helena Junior High, or Helena Middle School. See This Website for earthquake and before and after photos of the school.

Helena Middle School

The PWA allotted funds toward the construction of the $510,000 Helena high school, which was built between 1934 and 1935. A 1939 survey of PWA works described the school’s construction:

“The high school was rehabilitated and designed to resist earthquakes. The brick walls were removed, and reinforced concrete substituted with special column and beam reinforcing. The building was divided into individual units separated by 4-inch spaces.

The projects were completed in January 1938 at an estimated construction cost of $146,476 and a project cost of $157,504.” (Short and Brown)

The building didn’t last long in its original form… Helenahistory.org reports that: “Dedicated on September 21 1935, the new building was heavily damaged by the October 1935 earthquakes. According to post-quake estimates by U. S. Army engineers, it was about 75% destroyed.”

Reconstruction of the building took two years. The high school was relocated in 1955, at which point the building became the Helena Junior High School. The building houses the middle school to this day.
From the Living New Deal