Tatums High School - Tatums, OK
N 34° 28.846 W 097° 27.914
14S E 640935 N 3816532
A memorial to the old Tatums High School stands at its former location, providing a little sound byte for its history.
Waymark Code: WM12AB4
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 04/12/2020
Views: 1
It's not a very good shot, but the old school building is visible from the highway in a Google Maps Street View from 2009. The main marker has a rendering of the schoolhouse, and it reads:
In 1936 a brick building was built for 1st grade through 12th. Through the process of integration, the high school closed in 1965. It was used for grade school students and later the Head Start program was housed in the school, where Mrs. Jewell Varner was the director.
After the Head Start program closed the school sat empty for many years. The building soon began to deteriorate. The school was torn down in 2009.
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The marker has a companion which lists the principals, teachers, bus drivers, custodians, and cafeteria staff. There is no indication as to whether the brick base is composed of any of the remains of the school: The outer bricks look fairly new, but what's under the two plaques may or may not be taken from the building. The school's 1936 WPA plaque is affixed to the concrete below, accompanied by three brick pavers listings the members of the Tatums All School Reunion Committee, noting that this memorial was presented between 2010 and 2012.
The History Exchange website (see below) notes the school's demolition, but it does provide a description, apparently taken from the Oklahoma Historic Preservation Survey's Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination form, and it is consistent with the rendering of the school building on the plaque. It reads:
"The Tatums School is a ten-room, single-story, rectangular shaped (144' x 59') structure. It is constructed of red brick which has been painted white. It has a flat roof with limestone capped parapets. Entryways are recessed, while the front entry is framed with modified pilasters and a roof line cornice. A green sunscreen has been added to the upper portion·of the aluminum sash windows, placed by threes, that rest on brick sills. A small wellhouse has been added to the north end of the building, and a courseway for the handicapped has been built for the front entry. These additions in no way impair the original integrity of the structure."