Jefferson Elementary School Additions – Shawnee OK

Description

In 1934 additions to Jefferson Elementary in Shawnee, Oklahoma were built with the support of the Federal Public Works Administration (PWA). The building’s cornerstone that is located to the left of the entrance says that this construction project was the first Federal Public Works project in Oklahoma. The additions included an auditorium and more classrooms. These were much needed add-ons to the one-story building that had been hastily constructed on the site of the original Jefferson Elementary in order to replace the one that had been built in 1904 but had been destroyed by a tornado in 1924. A catalogue of Pottawatomie news items from 1940 to 1949 reports that the City of Shawnee paid $15,000 of the $62,000 that it cost to construct the additions.

The Waymarking website for Jefferson Elementary School describes the PWA-constructed building as follows:

“Jefferson School, located at 800 N. Louisa, is a one-story yellow brick building. The entrance portico on the southeast has several lovely bas relief friezes, as do areas over a bay window unit on the east and on the south.

Above the entrance, a name and date frieze shows ‘Jefferson School 1904 – 1933’ which refers to a school formerly on this location. The current building was constructed in 1934 as the FIRST Federal Public Works project in the State of Oklahoma. A newer section to the building was constructed in later years to the west….A large two-sided black granite cornerstone is located to the left of the entrance.”