Rincon School – Rincon NM

City:
Rincon, NM

Site Type:
Education and Health, Schools

New Deal Agencies:
Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Started:
1936

Quality of Information:
Moderate

Marked:
Yes

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

On February 12, 1936, the Doña Ana County Board of Education prepared a WPA project proposal to remodel and enlarge an existing school in Rincon, a small farming community on the Rio Grande north of Las Cruces.

The project would add onto to an existing one-story, red-brick Mission Revival-style schoolhouse. The Board anticipated it would cost $5,111.20, with the WPA contributing $4,111.20 (WPA OP 65-85-1469).

What resulted is a complementary brick addition, with the same pattern of windows and roof type as the original school. The only difference being the source of bricks and the type of sill applied to the windows.

The schoolhouse addition was the only WPA project funded in the community.

The WPA played an important role in developing school infrastructure in New Mexico during the Great Depression. Prior to the New Deal, New Mexico’s more than 900 school districts relied primarily on property taxes to fund new school construction.

Given the state’s low tax base, especially in poor, rural areas, the monies provided by the PWA and WPA proved a boon to school construction.

According to one figure, by 1937 the WPA had financed 257 new school buildings, 54 playgrounds, 15 gymnasiums, and remodeled 56 schools (Nanninga, 1942: 111).

By the conclusion of the New Deal, 361 schools had been constructed with WPA funds, representing the seventh highest expenditure on schools in the United States during the Depression (Kammer, 1994: 53).

The Rincon School, no longer in use as a public building, is visible from Interstate 25, and aside from the Catholic Church, is the most defining landmark of the community.

Source notes

Kammer, David. The Historic and Architectural Resources of the New Deal in New Mexico. Multiple Property Documentation Form prepared for the Historic Preservation Division, 1994. Nanninga, Simon P. The New Mexico School System. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1942. WPA Official Project File # 65-85-1469.

Site originally submitted by John Murphey on April 13, 2015.

Location Info


End Corea Street
Rincon, NM 87940
Doña Ana County

Coordinates: 32.675335, -107.066822

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2 comments on “Rincon School – Rincon NM

  1. Manuel Garcia

    My father and his siblings used to go to school there they are from the Garcia family what I like to know is what is the building used for now is it occupied and can it be rented out or is it for sale

  2. Jae Chin

    I purchased in 2006 and School Building is not for sale
    I wanted to find out more info in regarding Corea Street and Rincon elementary school.
    Your father and his siblings attended this school in what years ?
    What I know about this school was open in 1908 and closed in 1953

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Contribute to this Site

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2 comments on “Rincon School – Rincon NM

  1. Manuel Garcia

    My father and his siblings used to go to school there they are from the Garcia family what I like to know is what is the building used for now is it occupied and can it be rented out or is it for sale

  2. Jae Chin

    I purchased in 2006 and School Building is not for sale
    I wanted to find out more info in regarding Corea Street and Rincon elementary school.
    Your father and his siblings attended this school in what years ?
    What I know about this school was open in 1908 and closed in 1953

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

Your email address will not be published, shared, or sold.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.