The Jones County High School, now known as the W.E. Knox Civic Center is a public high school in Gray, Georgia, United States. It was also formerly known as Gray High School, and was built in 1936 as a

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...

project, to be a consolidated high school for white students. It was designed by architect

Ellamae Ellis League Ellamae Ellis League, (July 9, 1899 – March 4, 1991) was an American architect, the fourth woman registered architect in Georgia (U.S. State), Georgia and "one of Georgia and the South's most prominent female architects." She practiced for ove ...

. With . It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. It was deemed significant "as an excellent example of a H-plan school building representing the Colonial Revival style constructed with limited funds by the

, and for its architectural design by Ellamae Ellis League (1899-1991), a prominent and influential woman architect in Georgia." It is a one-story wood frame brick veneer H-plan building with a center rear

ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", and ...

holding the school's auditorium. Its front has a central block and adjacent wings. The center has flat roof and parapet, a wide

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

, quoins, and 16-over-16 double-hung windows. Its main doorway is recessed in an arched entranceway. The building's owner was the Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce, since 1992. Nearby buildings, not included in the National Register listing, and all owned by the Jones County Board of Education, were the Jones County Junior High School with lunchroom, the Jones County Gymnasium, a Business Building, and a Vocational Building. A c.1935 library was demolished before 1999. As of 2007, it had been repurposed as the W.E. Knox Civic Center.

Notable alumni

Terrance Gore Terrance Jamar Gore (born June 8, 1991) is an American professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He played college baseball at Gulf Coast Community College. He made his MLB debut in 2014 with the Kansas City Royals and has also played ...

- MLB player

References

School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Colonial Revival architecture in Georgia (U.S. state) High schools in Georgia (U.S. state) National Register of Historic Places in Jones County, Georgia School buildings completed in 1936 Public Works Administration in Georgia (U.S. state) {{GeorgiaUS-NRHP-stub