- City:
- Newcastle, TX
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Gymnasiums
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1936
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
On January 28, 1936, consideration was given to building a gym as a WPA project at Newcastle. On February 2, 1936, the school board committed a matching $3, 800 to build the gym. Local WPA employee A. C. Duckett was assigned as the project superintendent.
The gym was demolished in 1993. Alumni erected a pavilion in its location, and a monument to the gym, although they incorrectly list the construction date as 1931. Rocks from the old gym building were preserved in the sidewalk leading to the pavilion. The 1936 date is consistent with Mr. Wooldridge’s account of the construction, also listed on the submission data.
Source notes
Holub, Dorman, Young County historian. Personal correspondence March 18, 2013. Based on Mr. Holub's report of records in the Newcastle Register. Wooldridge, G. R. Personal interview March 13, 2013. Mr. Wooldridge resided in Newcastle during the time the gym was constructed. Newcastle School Board Meeting Minutes, February 2, 1936. Text and information from minutes provided by Dorman Holub, Young County Historian, April 10, 2013. “WPA Renewed on County Projects.” The Olney Enterprise (Olney, Texas), 17 July 1936, p. 10. “Progress Made in Co. Rural Schools.” The Olney Enterprise (Olney, Texas), 15 January 1937, p. 8.Site originally submitted by Susan Allen on February 11, 2014.
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