Former 4 Classroom School Building in AR

Tucker School Building, Tucker Arkansas

Date added: June 28, 2024 Categories:

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The Tucker community was named after John Woodfin Tucker, who came to Jefferson County in 1867 or 1868 and settled on Plum Bayou. In the vicinity of his house, Tucker also constructed a frame warehouse or commissary building. However, when the Cotton Belt line was constructed through the area c.1887, he moved the building to the small settlement at the rail line, which became known as Tucker when the post office was established. The Tucker community has always been tied to the Tucker plantation, and has been an agricultural community focused on cotton production in the area.

The Tucker School was built c.1915 to serve the white students in the Tucker community. Tucker did have a Rosenwald School (built 1925) and shop building (built 1929) to serve the area's African-American students. However, those buildings, which were located where the community park is now, were closed after the 1968-1969 school year, and were vandalized and demolished c.1972.

Although the Tucker School had four classrooms, only two teachers were employed at the school. A principal also served the school and Mildred Blair was one of the principals.

It is likely that the building was used by the community for more than just a school. The fact that the school features an auditorium space indicates that it may have also been used as a community center. Some educators, including Samuel Smith, who worked on school designs for the Rosenwald Fund, felt that, "the best modern school is one which is designed to serve the entire community for twelve months in the year … whenever possible a good auditorium, large enough to seat the entire community, should be erected in connection with every community school. If there are not sufficient funds for an auditorium, two adjoining classrooms with movable partitions may be made to serve this purpose." The Tucker School was not large enough for a separate auditorium, but appeared to have adjacent classrooms with a movable partition.

It is unknown when the building was last used as a school, but the topographic map of the area indicates that the building was being used as a church by 1963. It is believed that the school closed just prior to being used as a church. Currently, the building is vacant and has been for several years.

Schools along with churches were often the centerpieces of a community, and it was no exception in Tucker. Located in the heart of the Tucker Plantation complex, the Tucker School was the center of life in this community not only while it was a school, but for several years after.

Building Description

The Tucker School is a one-story, wood-framed school built c.1915 in the Community of Tucker, which is located approximately twenty miles north of Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas. The building rests on a foundation of brick piers, and is sheathed in weatherboard. The roof, a combination of a gable and hipped roof, is covered with asphalt shingles.

The Tucker School is located in the community of Tucker, approximately twenty miles north of Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas. The one-story, wood-framed structure was built c.1915 and contains four classrooms. It is located on Vandalsen Drive one block west of Arkansas Highway 15. A separate cafeteria building was also located on the property southwest of the school, but only the concrete foundation remains today.

The school sits on a brick pier foundation. The walls are sheathed in weatherboard and the roof, which is partially gabled and partially hipped, is covered in asphalt shingles. One brick chimney pierces the roof in the center of the building. Most of the large original windows remain, although they have been boarded up. A small porch in the center of the west facade shelters the building's main entrance while a second entrance is located on the building's east side.

The front facade of the building can be divided in half around a central entrance. The left half of the facade has a gable front roof, and projects outward from the main facade. It is fenestrated by a pair of windows that is boarded up. Above the windows, in the gable peak, are two square, louvered attic vents.

The building's central entrance, which is the main entrance, is sheltered by a porch. The porch's roof is a continuation of the front facade's gable roof, and is supported by a wood column at the corner. A concrete sidewalk leads to the entrance from Vandalsen Drive, and a sidewalk also branches off to the south leading to the foundation of the cafeteria building. The entrance consists of a pair of wood doors with a single diamond-shaped window towards the top of each. In the roof's main gable peak, which is located above the main entrance, there is a rectangular, louvered attic vent. Decorative gingerbread work is located in the peak in front of the vent.

There is no fenestration on the right half of the facade.

The south facade of the building, towards the west end, is fenestrated by a pair of windows followed by a single window followed by another pair of windows. Although all of the windows towards the west end are boarded up, they are visible on the inside and are double-hung, wood-framed, two-over-two windows.

Another group of boarded-up windows, likely a group of five, is located toward the eastern end of the facade.

The rear facade's fenestration is symmetrically oriented around the central entrance. The rear entrance door is a wood-panel door. On either side of the entrance are two evenly-spaced windows that are double-hung, wood-framed, two-over-two windows. As on the front facade, a rectangular, louvered attic vent, is located in the roof's main gable peak

The north facade of the building is fenestrated by two sets of windows. The eastern set of windows is composed of at least four wood-framed, double-hung, two-over-two windows, although all of the windows in the group are boarded up. The western set of windows is composed of eight wood-framed, double-hung, two-over-two windows. All of the windows except the fifth from the left are boarded up.

The interior layout of the building consists of a central hallway that runs almost the entire length of the building with the classrooms opening up off of the hallway. The classroom on the north side of the building is the largest and has a stage area at the eastern end, and it also appears that the room may have had a movable partition wall in the center. The other rooms on the south side of the building are smaller classrooms.

The interior finishes of the building, consist of hardwood floors, and beadboard paneling on approximately the lower third of the walls. The rest of the walls and ceilings are finished in painted wood paneling with raised boards covering the seams between the panels. A water fountain, which appears to be original to the building, is located on the hallway's south wall just inside the front door.