Chandler High School

Chandler High School 1942-1971

Just off the iconic Route 66 sits a WPA architectural wonder, waiting to be restored. The old Chandler High School doesn’t usually have many visitors, but one weekend out of the year, when the CHS Alumni Association throws its annual parade and reunion, you can see students trickling through to marvel at the memories it holds.

The idea for what is now the former Chandler High School started back in the late 1930s. As the district grew, it continued to struggle with adequate space to host the students. With the help of the Tulsa architectural firm, Koberling & Fleming, the Chandler School Board President accepted plans for the new building.

Made possible by the WPA, this was known as government project No. 41-4025. At the time, the cost was estimated to be around $80,000, with $50,213 to be provided by the government and the rest to be covered by local contributions through bonds and materials. The old building was to be demolished carefully so that as many materials as possible could be salvaged, adding another $8,200 to be covered. At the beginning, a crew of around a hundred workers kept the project on track and moving as quickly as possible. Native rock, a staple of WPA buildings, was quarried from the Pospiesel farm.

Revised plans were made to change the design of the building to a partial two-story classroom building and an auditorium to seat almost 1,000 persons. With these revised plans, some miscalculations in the cost of materials were made. Work was halted temporarily in May 1941 as additional pleas for money were made to the public. But just a month later, the district ran out of money to continue work and had to renegotiate with the WPA for additional funds. While these negotiations were made, work was halted, leaving the public uncertain of what was to come.

But it seemed that once one hiccup was taken care of, another arose. With the United States entering World War 2 a shortage in skilled labor, materials, and slow dispersal of funds from the WPA made finishing the project difficult and left them starting and stopping. Finally, in the summer/fall of 1942, the building was complete enough to allow for occupancy. Students officially began gracing the halls on September 7, 1942.

The auditorium, band rooms and some classrooms were still left unfinished, and again a pause was met in October 1942 on the work due to funding. The project was again resumed in late November, allowing for the completion of the auditorium. Still, the band rooms remained unfinished, and students and WPA workers were still hard at work to complete them in December.

Finally completed in 1943, the misfortunes that had plagued the school in the first three years seemed to fizzle out. The community and students continued to come together to add the finishing touches to the new building. Alumni donated books to enlarge the library selection, the new band room seemed to be improving the skill of the school band, and the students even took on the tumultuous task of trying to raise enough money to buy a lifeboat, parachute, and jeep to help aid in the war. The FFA boys even helped spruce up the grounds by planting trees.

One interesting story I came across was that for the first few years after opening, the school was continuously targeted by a group of vandals. One of the first times was when paint was thrown on the building in 1942. This resulted in the school board announcing that anyone caught defacing or damaging the building would be turned over to law enforcement. The only way to remove the paint was to sand it off the native stone, which, over time, could cause weakening of the stones.

The painting bandits took a one-year hiatus but stuck again in the fall of 1944, smearing the building all over with black paint 3 times within a ten-day period. The front steps and doors were also covered in wet sand and gravel a few weeks before. Ultimately, a group of schoolboys was caught and charged with the vandalism that they had done to not only Chandler High School but also nearby Davenport and Shawnee schools. The boys were made to pay $75 in settlement to the schools.

Chandler High School is arguably one of the best examples of community involvement that I have ever stumbled upon while researching. They hold the title for the oldest and longest continuing Alumni Association in the state. Not only does their Alumni Association host an annual parade and reunion for all CHS students, but they also have a permanent installation museum just down the street.

One staple from this school was the teacher, Miss Mabel Gillian. Mrs. Gillian had grown up in Chandler and graduated from here before going on to get her master’s degree in teaching. Her hometown pride was great, and she came back to Chandler to teach for the rest of her career. When she first started teaching at CHS, it was still in the 1919 building. Her biggest class was in 1935, “I can remember when students had to stand because we didn’t have enough seats for all the students,” she said. While this building was being constructed in the 1940s, she taught her classes in the old Chandler Armory building. She went on to retire in 1970 after forty-three years of teaching.

Uses After 1971-2007

The district had outgrown the building by the 1970s, and a new high school was built. This building transitioned into the middle school for the district. But after about a decade, just like the high school, they outgrew this building and a brand new junior high was built. Over the next twenty or so years, it transitioned to become Chandler Memorial Elementary School as well as administrative offices. During this time, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a step that would set this building up for a successful future restoration.

What’s Next for the Old Chandler High School? 2026

The building was ultimately vacated in 2007 with no real plan for what to do with it next. Years went by, slowly, windows were broken, the native stone began to show its water stains more, and the roof began to sag. Boards were put up to not only keep trespassers out, but it locked the memories in. The age was really starting to show and after almost a decade of vacancy, not just the community began to grow concerned. The state organization Preservation Oklahoma took notice of its deterioration and listed it on the 2016 Most Endangered Places List.

Since then, owner Kim Evans has taken the steps to give this building another fighting chance. And shes no stranger to this type of thing, she’s already done it once before with the Chandler Armory. It’s the year of the Route 66 Centennial, and the Chandler Armory has become a great example of what restoration of the Chandler High School could mean for future developments of Chandler, Oklahoma. But having just recently lost the historic St. Cloud Hotel, if we don’t act fast, our chance to save this historic structure could be gone. So what’s needed?

The community has already voiced, loudly, that they would support the restoration of the school. But a partner with Adaptive Re-Use knowledge would be needed to partner on a project like this and help come up with feasible ideas to hopefully ensure a long life for the building.

Gallery Below of Chandler High School

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