- City:
- Decatur, NE
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Schools
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
- Completed:
- 1937
- Designer:
- Everett Dodds
- Contractor:
- Beckenhauer Brothers
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
In 1937, a new school was completed for Decatur costing $76,000.00, accomplished in part due to the cooperation of the PWA on the project. The school was built on the site of the former school, which was razed just prior to the construction of the new school. It was built by Beckenhauer Brothers of Norfolk. The school was dedicated on April 27, 1937 with a program given before a large audience of patrons and townspeople. Mr. E. Dudley Beck, chair of the Board of Education, presided as Master of Ceremonies, and invited several to speak, including a school teacher who had taught in Decatur sixty years before, John Latenser Jr., PWA director for the State of Nebraska, Everett Dodds, the architect, and finally the superintendent of the Burt County Schools. The two story brick building was considered “as modern in construction as can be found in any town in the country.” The building had ample classrooms and a large auditorium for gatherings and athletic events. The building would accommodate 350 pupils.
The building is now Northeast Elementary School.
Source notes
Norfolk Daily News, 23 March 1936. Burt County Plaindealer, 27 May 2009.Site originally submitted by Jill Dolberg on September 20, 2015.
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