Sumner School Gym/Auditorium – Perry (Vic)

Address:	Vicinity of Perry, Oklahoma	Country	Noble
Started:		Completed	1940
Agencies:	WPA	NRHP:	April 26, 1996

Current Usage

Description:

The Sumner Gymnasium/Auditorium is a single-story, rectangular {93′ x 72′) structure constructed of rusticated and cut native stone arranged in a random coursed ashler pattern. The roof is hipped. The double door northeast entrance is recessed within two decorative stone columns with battlement-like concrete caps and beneath a concrete awning. Fixed metal windows with continuous concrete sills reach to the eaves and are spaced in groups of three and four. Additions to the north and west sides of the building have compromised its architectural integrity.
Construction of the Sumner School Gymnasium/ Auditorium created jobs and some economic relief for unemployed agricultural workers. Wages from some 29,000 man-hours of labor revitalized the local economy. The building also improved local educational facilities and is still is use today. By providing space for school/community athletic and social gatherings, the gymnasium aroused a sense of civic pride and identity. As a WPA building, the gymnasium is architecturally notable in terms of its large scale for a rural school, style, decorative workmanship, and construction materials.[1]

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: Go east from Perry nine miles on U.S. 64 and two miles north on a county road to the property beginning at the NE corner of the NE 1/4 of Sec. 7, T 21 N, R 2 E, go 500 feet, then south 435.6 feet, then east 500 feet, then north 435.6 feet to point of beginning.

The school is register on the National Register of Historic Places which included the Gym/Auditorium.[2]

Accurate population information is not available for the little farming community of Sumner as it apparently was not included in the Census. It most likely has no more than 50 residents, and maybe not many more than that when this gymnasium was built in 1940. The town was established in 1894 and its post office closed in 1957.

This is a rectangular one-story building 93 x 72 ft. and constructed of rusticated and cut native sandstone. Today, the building stands in a field with no access. The building is abandoned and covered with vines. Several decades ago, the property was surveyed by the Oklahoma Historical Society, and the two photos on their page show the building when it was more exposed. The building has a row of multiple-paned ribbon windows along its upper wall. The entrance on the northeast is canted and set amid a grouping of different height half-walls. The roof is a barrel roof covered with tar.[3]

Sources:

Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination
National Register of Historic Places – https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/ce24bd8d-b85e-4626-ba46-0e661f4a1595?branding=NRHP
Waymarking.com – http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMWHN9_Gymnasium_Auditorium_Sumner_OK