Howard Ryan Sites

The Works Progess Administration (WPA) renovated the old Magnolia High School (built in 1908) in 1938. This followed a lively debate over whether to upgrade or replace the old high school. A new high school had been approved in 1936 following condemnation of the old building by the Mississippi State Department of Education and the Public Works Administration (PWA) offered to fund a new school (as PWA project W1264). Community controversy broke out, however, over whether a new building should be erected or the old one repaired. As a result, a bond measure for the local matching funds for a new...