Gymnasium/Auditorium - Sumner, OK
Posted by: hamquilter
N 36° 19.100 W 097° 07.350
14S E 668541 N 4020892
This WPA gymnasium was a large project to be built in this very small community.
Waymark Code: WMWHN9
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 09/07/2017
Views: 2
Accurate population information is not available for the little farming community of Sumner as it apparently was not included in the Census. It most likely has no more than 50 residents, and maybe not many more than that when this gymnasium was built in 1940. The town was established in 1894 and its post office closed in 1957.
This is a rectangular one-story building 93 x 72 ft. and constructed of rusticated and cut native sandstone. Today, the building stands in a field with no access. The building is abandoned and covered with vines. Several decades ago, the property was surveyed by the Oklahoma Historical Society, and the two photos on their page show the building when it was more exposed. (
visit link) The building has a row of multiple-paned ribbon windows along its upper wall. The entrance on the northeast is canted and set amid a grouping of different height half-walls. The roof is a barrel roof covered with tar.