Crawfordsville High School is a former
public high school erected in 1910 on East Jefferson Street in
Crawfordsville,
Montgomery County, Indiana
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 37,936. Its county seat is Crawfordsville. The county is divided into eleven townships which provide local services.
Montg ...
, and was a part of the
Crawfordsville Community Schools. The building was expanded in 1914, 1921, and 1941 to provide additional classrooms, an auditorium, and a gymnasium. In 2000 the old school building was converted to a multi-use facility of offices, residential housing, and a fitness center. The former high school building was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2003. A new Crawfordsville High School facility opened at One Athenian Drive in 1993.
History
The Old Crawfordsville High School was located on East Jefferson Street in
Crawfordsville, the seat of government for
Montgomery County, Indiana
Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 37,936. Its county seat is Crawfordsville. The county is divided into eleven townships which provide local services.
Montg ...
. It served as the town's high school from 1911 to 1993. The building was converted to mixed-use facility in 2000 and added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2003.
[ ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs.] A new Crawfordsville High School at One Athenian Drive opened in the fall of 1993.
Central School
Crawfordsville's Central School was constructed on what was known as Jefferson Square, bounded by Jefferson, College, Seminary, and School streets, for $44,000 in 1873. Before additional grade schools were constructed, the brick school building accommodated students in all grades. Robert Krout, the local school board president, delivered a commencement address on the subject of
women's equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
to the first graduating class of ten students graduated in 1877. (Krout was the father of feminist authors
Mary Hannah Krout and
Caroline Virginia Krout
Caroline Virginia Krout (c. 1852–1931) was an American writer.
She was born in Balhinch, near Crawfordsville, Indiana, in about1852. She wrote several novels and a collection of short stories under the pen name Caroline Brown. In addition to b ...
, who would later teach at the school.) An addition to the twelve-room, three-story school was completed in 1880.
By 1880 Central School had become overcrowded and additional schools were built to accommodate the increasing enrollment. In addition, a fire in 1882 required Central School to be renovated. Construction began on a new high school in 1910 and Central School was demolished around 1919.[
]
Crawfordsville High School
In 1910 construction began on a new school on the Central School's property along Jefferson Street. The new building became known as Crawfordsville High School.[ The following year, 1911, the boys' ]basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
team won the first Indiana High School Boys Basketball Tournament The Indiana High School Boys Basketball Tournament, organized by the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), is one of the oldest state high school basketball tournament in America. The tournament has often featured future NCAA and Nation ...
.
In 1914 the high school was remodeled to include the extension of wings on either side of the main building. Construction work began in 1919 to add more classrooms and a 2,500-seat auditorium to the school. (The old Central School building was demolished to provide space for the auditorium addition.) In 1941 a Works Projects Administration project included the construction of eight classrooms and a gymnasium on the south side of the school.[
The Class of 1921 was the first to receive their high school diplomas in the new auditorium. The Class of 1976 became the high school's 100th graduating class.][Cline, p. 177.]
In 1993 classes moved to a new Crawfordsville High School facility at One Athenian Drive,[ along State Road 47, near the city's southwest corner.
]
Mixed-use facility
In 2000 the school building on East Jefferson Street was converted into offices, a fitness center that incorporates the school's 1939 gymnasium, one- and two-bedroom residential units, and spaces for other uses.[ The former high school was added into the ]National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2003.
Description
The Prairie School-style school, designed by the Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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architectural firm of Patton and Miller, faces north on Jefferson Street. The two-story, symmetrical-plan building on a raised basement has "cross-hipped roof
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...
" with "overhanging eaves" and wing additions extending on its east and west sides.[
The brick building's original roof was covered in ]terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
tiles, later replaced with asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...
shingles. The main entrance to the building is centered on the north elevation; the gymnasium projects from the south end of the main building. Other entrances are located on the east, south, and west sides of the school. Most of the building's windows have single openings.[
Brick pilasters on limestone bases vertically divide the exterior of the building. A canopy is suspended over the main entrance. A stone panel above the entrance canopy reads, "A.D. * High School * 1910" and the word "Gymnasium" is carved above the gym's entrances.][
Interior staircases from the main floor lead to the basement and two upper floors. Classrooms and school offices have been converted into residential units. The auditorium's audience space has been converted to offices; however, its two-story proscenium and gallery have been retained. The gymnasium also retains many of its original features, including its wooden basketball floor, wood and cast-iron bench seats, scoreboards, and two locker rooms. The gymnasium's basement level has been subdivided and modified; it includes a lap pool and whirlpool tub.][
]
Notable alumni
* Joseph P. Allen
* Joseph Stephen Crane
Joseph Stephenson "Steve" Crane (February 7, 1916 – February 6, 1985) was an American actor and restaurateur. A Columbia Pictures actor in the early 1940s, Crane opened the Luau, a popular celebrity restaurant, in 1953 and established a s ...
* Linda Evans
Linda Evans (born Linda Evenstad; November 18, 1942) is an American actress known primarily for her roles on television. In the 1960s she played Audra Barkley, the daughter of Victoria Barkley (played by Barbara Stanwyck) in the Western tel ...
* Ward Lambert
Ward Louis "Piggy" Lambert (May 28, 1888 – January 20, 1958) was an American basketball and baseball coach. He served as the head basketball coach at Purdue University during the 1916–17 season and from 1918 to 1946. Lambert was also the head ...
* Kenyon Nicholson
Kenyon Nicholson (May 21, 1894 – December 19, 1986) was an American playwright and screenwriter.
Early life
John Kenyon Nicholson was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, on May 21, 1894, the oldest son of Thomas B. and Anne (Kenyon) Nichols ...
* Robert E. Vaughan
* Maurine Dallas Watkins
Maurine Dallas Watkins (July 27, 1896? – August 10, 1969) was an American playwright and screenwriter. Early in her career, she briefly worked as a journalist covering the courthouse beat for the ''Chicago Tribune''. This experience gave her th ...
See also
* List of high schools in Indiana
Schools in Montgomery County:
* North Montgomery High School
North Montgomery High School is a public high school located in unincorporated Montgomery County, Indiana, near Crawfordsville. It is a part of the North Montgomery School Corporation.
It is the only high school in the district, and it serve ...
* Southmont High School
Southmont High School is a public high school located at 6425 US 231 South, unincorporated Montgomery County, Indiana, east of New Market and south of Crawfordsville. It is a part of the South Montgomery Community School Corporation.
Communiti ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
*
External links
Crawfordsville High School
''The First Indiana Basketball Tournament Champions 1911 Crawfordsville High School''
S. Chandler Lighty, Indiana Historical Bureau
{{Use mdy dates, date=September 2020
Public high schools in Indiana
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
School buildings completed in 1910
Prairie School architecture in Indiana
Buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Indiana
National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Indiana
1873 establishments in Indiana
High School
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...