1938 Clinton High School - Clinton,LA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Listed as being located on Cedar St. but is is actually facing Hwy. 67 and is on corner of Cedar St. and Plank Rd. Very busy highway, but there was parking along side, and a sidewalk to walk in front. Sets up on a small bluff or hill. Fine looking building. It is not listed on the walking tour of Historic Clinton,LA, but is not far fron a grouping of 5 visits. Not much history found, so the best is located from the Register application,located here.

Clinton’s residents considered their public school the heart of their small community (population of 998 in 1940). According to several older residents interviewed for this nomination, three factors contributed to this attitude. First, Clinton’s adults were sincerely interested in the town’s young people, and the youths’ activities centered upon the school. Second, the building was the place for any community activity of any size. (The only other possible space was the courtroom in Clinton’s antebellum courthouse, but part of its area was taken up with facilities for judicial officials and juries.) Finally, as more than one person explained, “There wasn’t anything else.” Therefore, once the 1938 school opened, it became the focus of the community. And when school consolidation began in the early 1940s, people from throughout East Feliciana Parish came to feel the same way. Children targeted the school for their Halloween pranks. All residents supported the institution’s activities, including turning out for graduation ceremonies whether one had a child graduating or not. Of course, sports were a special focus. When Clinton High School’s football team competed for the state championship around 1950, the whole parish “emptied” because the game was being played in North Louisiana. Interest was so intense that a telephone operator relayed the score to those few people forced to remain behind. Presentations that were not school-related drew large audiences to the school’s auditorium. The interviewees remembered dance recitals, musicales, plays, minstrel shows, talent shows, style shows and weight lifting meets as being presented in the auditorium. However, the memory which generated the most smiles during the interviews was that of several “womanless weddings.” These were hilarious spoofs of weddings in which young men and boys played all the roles. Some of these entertainments were used as fund-raisers as well as social events. Although students often took part, adults from the broader community also participated in the entertainments. Again, these were community-wide events, not school events. The school also served as the center of more serious activities. For example, the interviewees remember that a large Masonic convention held in Clinton during the historic period used the auditorium as its meeting space. And during World War II, for example, it was to the school that people delivered the scrap rubber and metal they collected for war materiel drives. The high school’s role as the social focus of the community lasted into the 1950s. However, as television and other types of entertainment became available, people began to look elsewhere for social activity and entertainment. The school continued in operation until the 1980s, when a new facility on the outskirts of town replaced it. However, the new institution does not inspire the affection and loyalty its predecessor generated in the community. In the days before television and the Internet, school activities and public entertainments were eagerly awaited diversions in rural and small town America, and Clinton and East Feliciana Parish were no exception. Thus, the 1938 school is greatly cherished by those who remember it as more than an educational institution; for they remember it as the very center of the town’s (and later the parish’s) community life.

Street address: 12525 Cedar Clinton, LA USA 70722 County / Borough / Parish: East Feliciana Year listed: 2005 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event {Social History} Periods of significance: 1925-1949, 1950-1974 Historic function: Education. Sub - School Current function: Vacant/Not in Use Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Privately owned?: Not Listed Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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