Wainwright School – Wainwright OK

City:
Wainwright, OK

Site Type:
Education and Health, Schools

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

Started:
1941

Completed:
1942

Description

The Works Progress Administration built the Wainwright School in Wainwright. The north side of the school has the entry and three triangular-peaked gable ends which extend to the ground. The east side has three tall, narrow windows with rounded tops, the center is the main entrance which is flanked by glass. The stone is of the red native rock cut into irregular shaped rectangles.

“The greatest legacy of the WPA in Oklahoma may be the hundreds of WPA-built buildings that are still in use. To most citizens, the public buildings are the most visible remains of a work relief program that truly benefited the taxpayers both at the time and generations later.”

“More schools were built by WPA in Oklahoma than in any other state. The Final Report lists 825 new school buildings and 185 substantial additions to existing schools. The number of school projects made up nearly one-half of the public buildings constructed with WPA funds. Other buildings constructed by WPA totaled 1,309.”

“Schools of every conceivable size were built. One, two, four, and eight-room schools were common all over Oklahoma. Wainwright still uses its WPA school, which served grades K-7 in 2007, and had been made handicap accessible.”

–Leaning on a Legacy

Source notes

Marjorie Barton, _Leaning on a Legacy: The WPA in Oklahoma_, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2008. Pg. 25.

Oklahoma Historic Preservation Survey, Oklahoma State University, Muskogee County.

Site originally submitted by The Living New Deal on July 17, 2012.
Additional contributions by Charles Swaney, July 11, 2018.

Location Info


Second and Walnut streets
Wainwright, OK 74450

Coordinates: 35.612438, -95.56543

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