Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 12/03/03
SUMMARY
The Plumerville High School Gymnasium is located in Plumerville,ConwayCounty, 5 miles east of Morrilton and 12 miles west ofConway.The gymnasium is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criteria A for its association with educational history and athletics in the town of Plumerville.Built between 1937 and 1939, the building falls under the historic context Public Schools in the Ozarks, 1920-1940, as a representative example of a stone gymnasium building constructed for a rural school district.
ELABORATION
The PlumervillePublic School system started shortly after 1900.The original two-story schoolhouse burned in the early 1920s and was replaced with a red brick building with an auditorium.There was also a smaller two-room frame building located on the campus that housed the first and second grade classrooms.In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) completed a six-room building that contained classrooms and an office that would be used as PlumervilleHigh School building. The two-room building was razed in May of 1937 and the first and second grade classrooms moved to the “Red Brick” building.The gymnasium was erected on the sight of the two-room building and completed in 1939.
A hot lunch program was established for the PlumervilleSchool system in the fall of 1945. The program was located in the concession stand of the gym and the gym bleachers served as tables and benches. This arrangement continued until a combined lunchroom/home economics building was constructed in 1947.
The gym was the site of many great basketball games and the center of community activities for the City of Plumerville. The gym was the site of many county, district, state and invitational basketball tournaments.PlumervilleHigh School basketball teams held many honors including Class B State Champions in both boys and girls divisions.Other activities held in the PlumervilleHigh School gym included May Day festivals, school carnivals, and fund raisers for various occasions and concerns.
The PlumervilleSchool system was closed in 1980 and consolidated with the Morrilton and MenifeeSchool Districts.The combined districts were namedSouthConwayCountySchool District and the school is located at Morrilton. Junior High classes were held at Plumerville until 1989 at which time the classes were also moved to Morrilton. The SouthConwayCountySchool District returned the school property to the City of Plumerville in 1989.
Arch Ford Educational Cooperative Foundation leased the school property from the City in 1990 with the exception of the gymnasium and the agricultural building. That same year a group of citizens and former students formed an organization called the “Plumerville Homecoming Committee”. An annual homecoming celebration for all
residents, former residents and former students has been held in October of each year since 1990. Approximately 400 people return each year for this celebration. A banquet is served in the gym to climax the activities.
The Plumerville High School Gymnasium is ineligible for listing on the National Register because of an addition that connects the gym with another school building. Despite this, the building is the best example of a WPA constructed athletic facility in the small town. The role the building continues to play in the community as the venue for an annual community wide Halloween carnival, community basketball games, yearly graduation ceremony for the local pre-school and Plumerville Homecoming banquet shows the building’s continued importance to the community that it has served for over sixty-five years.
SIGNIFICANCE
The Plumerville High School Gymnasium constructed between1937 and 1939 falls under the historic context Public Schools in the Ozarks, 1920-1940, as a representative example of a stone gymnasium building constructed for a rural school district. It is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A with local significance.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Information obtained from the following:
W. C. Plummer- Mayor and former student
Jarrell Sams (81 years of age)- former student, teacher and coach
Janice McKnight (74 years of age)- former student, athlete and school staff member
Katherine McClure- City Recorder and genealogist
Wilma Wiman (90 years of age)- former student and teacher
Awana Evans Bane(90 years of age)- former student and resident
DEEDS
(releasing the property back to the City of Plumerville)
Record Book 209, page 384Conway County Court House