Phillipsburg Community Building - Phillipsburg KS

City:: Phillipsburg, KS
Site Type:: Community Centers, Civic Facilities
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Started:: 1936
Completed:: 1937
Designer:: Owassa J. Jennings
Contractor:: Dr. Guy Innes
Quality of Information:: Good
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

The Works Progress Administration built the Phillipsburg Community Building in 1936-1937.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: “Through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Kansas realized many new public buildings and recreational facilities, including 58 community buildings like the one in Phillipsburg. The construction of the Phillipsburg Community Building in 1936 and 1937 employed about 150 area residents during the two-year project. Local newspapers promoted this as one of the largest community buildings in northwest Kansas, and it would consist of a large auditorium with bleachers, stage, dressing room, toilet and shower facilities, a library, and city hall office. Local architect Owassa J. Jennings worked on the project, Dr. Guy Innes served as the project superintendent, and H. C. Townsend was the foreman. The Phillipsburg Community Building was built of limestone from a local quarry using local labor. It exhibits the characteristics of these craftsmen and features a vernacular Collegiate Gothic architectural style. The building was nominated as part of the “New Deal-Era Resources of Kansas” Multiple Property Submission for its association with the New Deal.”
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City of Phillipsburg website: “The Phillipsburg Community Building was built in 1936-1937 during the Great Depression as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was established by the federal government and the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 to provide relief to the unemployed.

The local newspaper reported this project to be ‘the biggest WPA project in the sixth district, involving an expenditure of $107,205, exclusive of the rock quarrying project to provide building stone.’ Local architect Owassa J. Jennings worked on the project, Dr. Guy Innes served as the project superintendent, and H.C. Townsend was the foreman.

74 men worked to quarry limestone in November of 1935 at the quarry south of Glade, Kansas. A crew of 58 men began excavating at the building site in February of 1936 and construction of the 9,200-plus square foot building began March 24, 1936. The community building was formally dedicated on Tuesday, October 26, 1937.”