Poplarville Sites

Works Progress Administration Project 41,187 was approved for improvements to campus streets and the athletic field at Pearl River Junior College. The allotment was $31,335 and the sponsor’s fund was $14,582. The Coast Engineering Co., prepared plans for the project, which included paving all driveways, building curbs for sidewalks, grounds beautification, grading, seeding, sodding, tree and shrub planting. The athletic field was enlarged and concrete bleachers were erected.

NYA boys on the Pearl River Junior College campus erected a vocational building, while the girls worked in home economics. Hancock Hall was completed 1938 by the National Youth Administration. The architect was Robert William Naef. The building was destroyed in 1961.

The historic post office building in Poplarville, Mississippi was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the Great Depression. Completed in 1941, it is still in use today. "This building has an unusual plan and appearance for a post office of its period: it is a narrow-fronted, two-story, hip-roofed brick building in a simplified Colonial Revival Style" (MDAH).

Public Works Administration project 4838 was approved 2/21/1934 for the construction of a school in Poplarville. The city received a loan of $14,100 and a grant of $5906. Construction began 6/18/1934 and was completed 12/14/1934 for a total of $19,891. The exact location of the school building is not specified. A number of Pearl River County schools were destroyed or badly damaged in Hurricane Camille in 1969, and there is no indication a school from that time period is still extant in Poplarville.

The National Youth Administration built the vocational building for the Pearl River County Training School in 1941. The building was one part of a complex of buildings constructed for African American students between 1900 and 1951.