Goodland Academy – Hugo OK

Description

“Because the private Goodland Academy was consolidated with an adjacent public school district in the 1930s, the Presbyterian-sponsored orphanage that was founded in the nineteenth century was given WPA funds to add buildings to its campus. A grade school building, gym/auditorium, a shop building, and a hospital were added. The school and gym are still used as intended. The buildings are unique in that  pieces of white quartz are used in a decorative manner throughout the stone work of the buildings.

Although (as of 2012) Goodland is planning additional construction, the old buildings will be retained. Administrator David Dearinger estimated that it would have cost $240,000 to replace the gym building several years ago, but instead a much smaller expenditure renovated the WPA structure. One of the toranados that hit Oklahoma in the Antlers and Hugo area in 1945 took the roofs off some buildings at Goodland, but did not crack the thick walls of the WPA structures. The schools in Antlers also appear unharmed.”

The current status of the WPA buildings is unknown to Living New Deal.