Ulysses Simpson Grant Elementary School is a historic building located in

Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is a city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U.S. Cens ...

, United States. Built in 1914, it replaced a school of the same name that had been built in 1876. The Neoclassical building was designed by

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

architect John W. Trafzer, and built by Buckler and Robertson. It was the first new school built in Oskaloosa in the 20th century, and part of an effort to rebuild or recondition the schools in the city. The addition of a multipurpose facility in 1957 followed the Mother's Crusade of 1956 to rebuild and modernize Oskaloosa schools system after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was designed by George Russell. Two other additions were built in 1978 and 1980. The building served the school system until 2004, after which the original portion of the building was converted into senior apartments and the newer additions into a senior center. The grounds have become a community park. The building was listed on 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 v ...

in 2008.

References

School buildings completed in 1914 Neoclassical architecture in Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Elementary schools in Iowa Schools in Mahaska County, Iowa School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Mahaska County, Iowa 1914 establishments in Iowa {{MahaskaCountyIA-NRHP-stub