Abandoned school building in Georgia
West Point Public School, West Point Georgia
The West Point Public School is located on a 3.43-acre parcel, approximately 2,200 feet east of the Chattahoochee River, overlooking the river from one of the highest points on the city's east side. Historical records refer to this site as "the knoll," and later, as "College Hill." Since the community's early days, this site has been devoted to educational use, and has housed some of the earliest schools in the county. The school sits in an impressive location, even today.
The West Point Land Company, chartered in 1838, owned the property until 1867. A 1839 City Map by Broadnax shows the West Point Female Academy there. At that time, educational institutions had no legislative authority to grant college degrees to women; the term "academy" indicated that the course work was more advanced than finishing school. The Female Academy remained open until the Civil War (1861-1865). A boys school was located on the west side of the river in Chambers County, Alabama.
In 1867, the West Point Land Company conveyed the property to the directors of the West Point Female College. (This transaction was recorded in 1879). A building was purchased in LaFayette, Alabama, disassembled, and transported by wagon to College Hill, where it was reassembled at the site of the present West Point Public School. In 1873, this building was destroyed in a windstorm.
In 1874, the City of West Point built a new school on the site, at a cost of $13,000. The property was conveyed to the City of West Point, and the new school became the West Point Public School, the first city school in Troup County.
In 1886, the West Point Public School was destroyed by fire. A new building was constructed, only to burn down also, ten days before its dedication. A third building was constructed, and dedicated in September 1887. Approximately one week later, the Chattahoochee River flooded, washing away the wagon bridge that connected students on the west side of the river to the school on College Hill. Classes resumed in April 1888.
In 1887, the West Point Public School had 188 students (27 of them in the high school grades), three faculty, and Colonel A. P. Mooty as superintendent. All children were required to spell words of three letters before they could start school. The public school curriculum included elocution, grammar, geography, Latin, Greek, algebra, chemistry, English literature, moral philosophy, elements of criticism, and penmanship.
In 1890, Superintendent J. E. Parks instituted a textbook rental program at the school, and helped the students raise funds for an electric clock (c. 1900) which was subsequently used for 30 years. The school building built in 1887 remained in use until 1930, when it was demolished to make way for the existing structure.
In 1930 the City of West Point decided to construct a new school building. After much discussion, it was decided to locate this new building on College Hill, which had served this purpose for over 100 years. Bonds were issued and architect Ward Dennis, of the architectural firm of Dennis and Dennis of Macon, Georgia, was retained to design the new school. The West Point Iron Works (now Batson-Cook & Co.) was awarded the construction contract. The old 1887 building was demolished, College Hill graded off, and a new brick building constructed at the site. This new building was built to last.
During construction, classes were held in the community's Methodist and Baptist churches. On December 18th, 1931, the new school was dedicated, and classes resumed in the new building in January, 1932.
The beauty and convenience of this Colonial Revival structure impressed and inspired the surrounding community. The school's science laboratory (for classes in biology, chemistry, and physics) was modeled after the famous Lincoln School in New York. A Library Committee was formed to solicit subscriptions from alumni and others, and by 1947 the library had 3,639 volumes, with $250 in new books purchased each year. A P.T.A. was also formed, and curtains for the new auditorium purchased.
The school was used for grades Kindergarten through high school, 11th grade at first, from 1931-1951, and then was an elementary school from 1951 until it closed in 1986.
The new school became a center of community activity, providing a progressive schedule of academic and community programs until 1986, when the City school system merged with the County's, and the building was closed. In 1987, the Troup County Board of Education sold the school back to the City of West Point. In the early 1990's the building briefly housed a Christian action ministries group; during this time much of the ceiling and wall material was removed. The windows were also removed, although they have since been located and stored.
In the fall of 1995, the City of West Point, which still owned the building, announced plans to demolish the building, given its unsecured condition and the potential for this vacant structure to become a public safety or fire hazard. Concerned citizens intervened, and the City agreed to let the citizen committee pursue rescue and rehabilitation options for the building.
The Our Town, Inc., obtained possession of the school on September 17th, 1998 from the City of West Point and has secured the building. Plans are to rehabilitate the school and use it for a community center.
The water tower is owned by the City of West Point. The tower was built in 1939 after the east side of town had increased in residential use to the point that people could not receive enough water through the old system. The new tower held 100, 000 gallons of water and was placed on the high point on the east side of town, just behind the West Point Public School. At the time it was built, the apex of the tower was coordinated with the tip of the school's portico so they would be in unison when viewed from the river.
West Point
West Point is one of Troup County's three incorporated cities (West Point, Hogansville and the county seat, LaGrange.) Located on the Chattahoochee River at the Alabama border, West Point was settled early and played a strong role in the subsequent development of Troup County and surrounding region, particularly with respect to the area's transportation systems and textile-based economy. From its earliest days, West Point also became known (along with nearby LaGrange) as a cultural center, drawing students from as far as Texas and Virginia to attend school in the county.
West Point is first known to us as the Creek Indian town of Ocfuskoochee Tallaunhassee (Old Town), which was located on the west side of the river along the north-south trading path called Five Notch Road. We know that English traders visited the town as early as 1685. By the late eighteenth century, Five Notch Road was part of an extensive network of paths and trails connecting Creek towns on the Chattahoochee's west bank with the Cherokee Indians to the north, Chickasaws and Choctaws to the west, Seminoles to the south, and white settlement to the east. In 1790, however, Ocfuskoochee Tallauhassee was abandoned by the Creeks as they moved westward into Alabama.
With the Creek cession of territory in 1825 to the State of Georgia, Troup County was formed and its lands were distributed in the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery to white citizens of Georgia. The state's rapidly growing cotton-based economy fueled immigration to the area. Troup County proved ideally suited to cotton production. By 1860, the county was one of the state's top five slave-holding counties and ranked as the fourth wealthiest county in Georgia. West Point, for its part, quickly developed as a trading center on the east side of the river.
West Point grew around the Phipps, Williams and Cox Store, established in 1829. The town's streets and lots were arranged in a gridiron pattern on the east bank of the Chattahoochee. The community was first known as Franklin (after Benjamin Franklin) in 1831, and then changed its name to West Point the following year, in deference to another incorporated Franklin some 40 miles to the north.
Throughout the region's "Golden Age" of agricultural production, West Point maintained its role as a commercial transportation hub. In 1854, the first railroad in Troup County, the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, was completed to West Point. Shortly thereafter, the Montgomery and West Point Railroad was completed, linking West Point with Alabama.
After the Civil War, two West Point entrepreneurs established early textile mills in nearby Chambers County, Alabama, on the west bank of the Chattahoochee River. In 1866, George Huguley established the Georgia-Alabama Manufacturing Company, and the same year, James W. McLendon established the Chattahoochee Manufacturing Company. In 1870, the West Point Iron Foundry was established, to repair machinery used in those two new textile mills. West Point's business district moved to the west side of the river.
During the years 1873 to 1906, West Point's two textile mills were consolidated as the West Point Manufacturing Company, under the management of West Point businessman Lafayette Lanier. The West Point Manufacturing Company became a defining force in the community. West Point and the surrounding area prospered as "mill fever" swept the south between 1880 and 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Lafayette Lanier's son George Huguley Lanier undertook a large-scale expansion of the West Point Manufacturing Company. Throughout this period of geographic expansion and diversification, the company, in a show of respect for the community, kept its corporate offices in West Point, where they remain today.
After World War II, the nation's textile industry, and Troup County's also, suffered a period of relative decline. In 1965, the West Point Manufacturing Company was merged with a northern industry leader called Pepperell, Inc., creating West Point-Pepperell. Faced with declining population and employment, community leaders took steps to diversify Troup County's industrial base, and by 1980, had reversed an out-migration trend. In West Point, however, the population continued to decline, from 4,601 residents in 1960, to 3,571 residents in 1990.
Building Description
The West Point Public School is located on one of the highest points on the east side of West Point, Georgia. The school is a Colonial Revival-style brick building. Built in 1930, the T-shaped school is two stories with a full basement and features a central projecting pedimented pavilion and two classroom wings extending to either side. A large auditorium extends to the rear from the center of the building, giving the building its T-shape. Four pairs of limestone-engaged columns, with Ionic capitals, decorate the front entrance. In the center of the pediment is an electric clock. The hipped roof of the school is covered with asphalt shingles. A landing is located at the front entrance of the school with dual staircases on the sides approaching from the front drive, ironwork railings, and lamp standards. Round-arched windows are located on the front pavilion. There are more round-arched windows in the auditorium, and one at the landing level between the first and second floors of the classroom wings on the north and south facades. The interior plan of the building features a T-shape, with a long central hallway leading from the entrance to the two classroom wings. Classrooms are located on either side of the long hallway. The large auditorium is located directly across from the main entrance. The second floor mirrors the first, with the addition of a library. The cafeteria of the school was located in the basement. Interior features include hardwood floors, lockers, blackboards, and tiled bathrooms. A lot of the historic plaster was removed in the early 1990s. The auditorium's interior features include ornamental pilasters and columns with composite capitals, a balcony, plaster walls, a stage, a decorative cartouche, and round-arched windows. Landscape elements of the building include oak trees, sidewalks, and a playground. A historic metal water tower owned by the City of West Point is located directly to the rear of the school.
The West Point Public School is a Colonial Revival-style school building, built in 1930. It is two stories high with a basement, located on an elevated site, facing west, and overlooking the City of West Point and the Chattahoochee River. The building is T-shaped, with a full-height pedimented entry portico in the center, and classroom wings extending on either side. A large auditorium extends eastward (back) from the center of the building, creating the stem of the "T."
The school is located facing Avenue F, with Avenue G at the rear a partially-closed street. The city water tower sits in the middle of an unopened stretch of Avenue G. The school faces East 8th St., which runs west in front of the school originally to a bridge across the river, now replaced, and east behind the school, but the continuity of the street is blocked by the school site.
The school retains its original red brick siding, with wood finishes and trim (painted white). The craftsmanship is good.
Four pair of matched limestone columns, with Ionic capitals, support the central pediment. In the center of the pediment is an electric clock. Windows are six-over-six, double-sash across the front of the building, except for the portico, which features Palladian-style windows at the first-floor level. From the street level, two parallel sets of concrete steps approach the terrace on which the school sits. About 35 feet from these steps across the terrace, there are two curved sets of limestone steps with delicate iron railings, which continue across the outside edge of the landing. Just inside of this railing are four wrought or cast-iron lampposts at the entrance level. This outside landing, which the four limestone columns flank, leads up to the double doors of the front entrance. There are more Palladian windows in the auditorium, and at the landing level between first and second floors at the ends of the two classroom wings. Most of the windows have been removed and are now in storage.
The floor plan on the first and second floors consists of a long hallway running north to south parallel to the front facade of the school. Off of this central hall are located the classrooms, support rooms, restrooms, the auditorium, and various stairways. The first-floor support rooms include the teachers' lounge and the superintendent/principal's office. The second-floor support room is the library which is the room directly over the front entrance of the building. The basement contains the original cafeteria and kitchen and is located directly under the auditorium wing.
The interior is wooden supported, with hardwood floors. On the interior walls, most of the sheetrock and plaster was removed by a tenant around 1990. There are tile walls and floors in the bathrooms, and tile walls downstairs, most of which are remaining. There is some shelving left in the library. During earlier renovation, the ceiling was removed throughout the building. Most of the original windows are in storage in the basement. The Palladian-style windows in the auditorium are in place.
The auditorium has a level floor, with a stage and 2 dressing rooms. Six ornamental pilasters in the auditorium project from the wall, with two in the balcony. The pilasters have Ionic capitals. There is a cartouche in the center of the ornamental plaster frame of the auditorium stage.
On the interior, there is some remaining ornamentation, primarily in the auditorium wing, as mentioned above. In the rest of the school, there are surviving chair rails, banisters, and blackboard surrounds.
On the south end, the building sits close to the ground, with a basement. On the north end, there are original brick piers, in fine condition. In the middle, under the lunch room, are support columns for the auditorium. The rest of the structural system is wood beam, with no steel found.
The school is located on the highest point on the east side of West Point, a town split by the Chattahoochee River. The site, occupied by earlier schools, was graded in 1930 to make way for the new school. On the south side of the school is the lower playground, reached by concrete steps. In front, there are two concrete stairways. The water tower owned by the City of West Point is in back of the school, with a radio beacon on top for EMS (Emergency Medical Services).
Around 1990 the building's interior walls, ceiling materials and some flooring were removed. This was due to efforts by the tenant at the time to rehabilitate the building. The failure of that venture left the school in an unrestored condition.
Since the photographs were taken in 1998, the school has been cleaned, the windows secured with plywood covers, and the hole in the roof covered. These temporary measures have been done to secure and protect the school as the owners work toward its rehabilitation.
Front facade from East 8th Street looking southeast (1998)
Front facade from Avenue F at 8th St. looking southeast (1998)
Front facade, central portico, detail of columns and stairs with iron grillwork and lanterns looking southeast (1998)
Front facade as seen from south looking north (1998)
South facade of main block looking northeast (1998)
South, rear and auditorium facades looking northwest (1998)
South facade of auditorium wing looking northeast (1998)
North facade of auditorium wing and bottom of water tower looking southwest (1998)
North facade of auditorium wing and north end of main block looking southwest (1998)
First floor, entrance steps to auditorium and looking toward south entrance stairway looking southeast (1998)
First floor, south entrance stairway with classroom on left looking southeast (1998)
First floor, north entrance stairway looking northeast (1998)
First floor, exit stairway on south side of auditorium steps with entrance to girl's restroom looking southeast (1998)
First floor, classroom on southwest corner of building looking southeast (1998)
Second floor; stairway with second floor above, first floor below, on south side of building looking northeast (1998)
Second floor, classroom on southeast corner of building looking northwest (1998)
Auditorium, facing stage looking northeast (1998)
