H. M. Nailor School Complex (former) – Cleveland MS

Description

The Nailor High School was initially known as the Cleveland Consolidated School for African American students. It was designed by architect E. L. Malvaney and approved as WPA No. 50,022 in the fall of 1940. The monolithic concrete building contained two wings of classrooms connected by an auditorium seating 400, with a proposed cost of $63,000. WPA approved $25,394 toward the cost of the new school. “Nailor’s poured concrete construction and Art Moderne style is almost unique for black schools of the same period and would have made it one of the finest African American school buildings of its time” (Baughn, 2010, p. 2). The auditorium was damaged by fire in 1950 and during repair, additional classrooms were added to the WPA-constructed building. It served as the Cleveland school for African American students from its opening until the 1960s when a new high school was construction and it became the Elementary school for African American students. It was demolished in 2011.