Wagoner County Courthouse – Wagoner

Address:	300 block Cherokee Street, Wagoner, Oklahoma	County:	Wagoner
Started:		Completed:	1939
Agencies:	WPA	NRHP:	No

Current Usage:

Courthouse

Description:

A three-story, rectangular (115′ x 70′) structure, the Wagoner County Courthouse is constructed of buff brick laid with running bond. The exterior walls are decorated with limestone caps and friezes, two of the latter also serving as continuous lintels. There are also pilasters and modified, stepped pilasters, as well as decorative brick work on the corners. The roof is flat with parapets, and windows rest on pre-formed concrete sills. Original metal casement windows are still in use except those on the second story in the front,where they have been replaced with single pane casement windows. The roof extension and angular lines of the building give it a distinct art deco flavor.
The courthouse is especially significant because, as a structure of substantial size, construction of it enabled authorities in Wagoner County to put to work large numbers of persons who had been made destitute by the national depression. Wages from some 250,000 man-hours of labor were also infused into the local economy and helped to blunt the impact of the economic disaster on the business community along mainstreet. Moreover, it was one of the handful of courthouses constructed by the WPA in Oklahoma. Placement of the facility in the eastern part of the county enabled residents in the western part, namely Coweta, to make a case for court facilities in their town–facilities that the WPA also provided. Within the community of Wagoner, of course, the courthouse is wholly unique as to type and workmanship. Its art deco style makes it notable both in the town and as a WPA project.

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: South 1/2 of Block 289, Wagoner original