Address: Vicinity of Fort Towson, Oklahoma County: Choctaw
Started: 1937Completed: 1938
Agencies:WPANRHP:No

Current Usage:

Cemetery Pavilion and Fence

Description:

A single story, rectangular 06′ x 16′) structure, the Fort Towson cemetery pavilion is constructed of undressed and untooled native sandstone. The roof is gabled; windows are wood sash and singly placed; there are front and side doors. The cemetery fence is three feet high, sixteen inches wide, constructed of untooled and uncoursed native stone, reinforced with systematically placed pillars and capped with concrete. Stone selection and placement make the fence a thing of beauty. It surrounds an eleven acre tract measuring 1260 feet long and 430 feet wide.
The Fort Towson Cemetery Pavilion and Fence is significant because it reflects the broad character of projects undertaken by the WPA in its works program. It is also important because of its scale, i. e. the fence is three-quarters of a mile long. Cemetery improvements were not in and of themselves unusual for the WPA, but ones of the magnitude of those at Fort Towson certainly were. The workmanship demonstrated on the project also make it notable. Most important, however, was that construction of the cemetery improvements provided useful jobs for persons long unemployed, giving them a measure of hope and economic security.

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: A 30 foot wide strip of land along the outer limits of a rectangular tract that begins at the NW corner of the NE 1/4, of the SW 1/4 of Sec. 13, T 6 S, R 19 E, and goes south 630 feet, east 430 feet, North 1260 feet, west 430 feet and south 630 feet to the point of beginning; and also a one acre tract that begins 708 feet south of the same NW corner of the NE 1/4, of the SW 1/4 and goes east 208 feet, south 208 feet, west 208 feet and north 208 feet.

Sources:

  1. Oklahoma Landmarks Inventory Nomination

Supported Documents:

  1. WPA Properties Choctaw County – Fort Towson Cemetery Pavilion and Fence

Photos: