| Address: | Vicinity of Ponca City, Oklahoma | Country | Kay |
| Started: | 1941 | Completed | 1942 |
| Agencies: | WPA | NRHP: | No |
Current Usage
Description:
The Oakview School is a single-story, rectangular (45′ x 30′) structure constructed of rusticated native stone laid in a random coursed pattern. The gable roof has an interior chimney and a cross gable that forms a porch supported by four wood columns over the recessed front entry. Window openings with concrete slip sills reach to the eaves in the classrooms. Despite renovation into a private residence that enclosed the rear windows with wood inserts, the schoolhouse retains much of its architectural integrity.
As a WPA structure in northwestern Oklahoma, the Oakview school is most unique in that it employs native stone as a construction material. Moreover, it is one of the few WPAconstructed, two-room school buildings remaining in the northwestern counties. The structure is also significant because its construction had a direct impact upon the rural community surrounding Oakview during and after the depression. Some 12,000 man-hours of wages were poured into the local economy; jobless agricultural workers earned a paycheck and salvaged their pride; and interest in education improved remarkably. Finally, conversion of the school into a private home demonstrates how suitable WPA buildings are for adaptive reuse.[1]
VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: Go three miles east of the Pioneer Woman Monument in Ponca City and one-half mile north to one acre of land located in the NW corner of the SW 1/4 of Sec. 20, T 26 N, R 3 E, beginning at the NW corner of said 1/4 section, thence east 10 rods, south 16 rods, thence west 10 rods, thence north 16 rods to place of beginning.
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