Elementary School (former) – Benoit MS

City:
Benoit, MS

Site Type:
Education and Health, Schools

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding

Started:
1935

Completed:
1936

Artist:
Joseph Barras

Designers:
A. H. Town, N. W. Overstreet

Contractor:
M. T. Reed Construction Company

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
No Longer Extant

Description

The 1936 elementary school was Pubic Works Administration project 1002. Total cost of the school with the auditorium and gymnasium was $61,631. Architects Overstreet and Town designed the facility in an Art Deco style and Joe Barras provided a bas relief sculpture for the building. M. T. Reed Construction Company won the general construction bid, and plumbing was done by Davis Plumbing with Joe Williams Electric providing the electrical wiring. The elementary school was destroyed by fire in 1954. The one-story concrete building containing six classrooms, auditorium, and gymnasium were all destroyed.

Source notes

Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Historic Resources Inventory, Benoit, MS.
Report No. 5, Region No. 3. Status of Completed Non-Federal Allotted Projects. Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works Projects Division, p. 104, January 3, 1940.
Clarion-Ledger, December 10, 1935, p. 5.
"Belzoni Builder has lowest bid." Clarion-Ledger, December 21, 1935, p. 7.
"Fire Destroys School at Benoit." Greenwood Commonwealth, December 23, 1954, p. 1.

Site originally submitted by Susan Allen on October 27, 2017.

Location Info


Second Street
Benoit, Mississippi 38725
Bolivar County

Location notes: Second Street appears to have been renamed, and the currently abandoned elementary school built on the site of the 1936 school is located at the intersection of Adams and Leverick Streets.

Coordinates: 33.591505, -91.074477

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