| Address: | 401 High School Drive, Panama, OK 74951 | County: | Leflore |
| Started: | Completed: | 1938 | |
| Agencies: | WPA | NRHP: | No |
Current Usage:
School Property
Description:
The Panama gym and auditorium, a building that contains classrooms and a court with high ceilings, is a single story, rectangular (89′ x 98′) structure constructed of untooled and uncoursed native stone of vivid colors. The roof is gabled with catslides. Entryways located at offsets of the walls are covered with small porches. Windows, with pre-formed concrete sills, throughout the building have been enclosed with concrete blocks, alterations that do not impair the architectural integrity of the structure.
As a WPA building, the structure is notable for its scale and quality masonry. Within the Panama community it is unique architecturally because of its type, style, scale, materials and workmanship. Of course, the gym/auditorium is especially significant because its construction provided work opportunities for unskilled and unemployed laborers on the verge of starvation during the depths of the depression and because it provided space for school and community activities, especially basketball, which fostered a sense of identity and pride not widely known in the region earlier. The “Razorbacks” became an athletic power thereafter.
VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: Lots 17-20, Block 55, Panama original
Sources:
Supported Documents:
Photos:
Leave a Reply