Tribbey School

The small town of Tribbey, Oklahoma, was established by stalwart pioneers a few years before Oklahoma became a state. The first Tribbey School was a one-room building on the south side of town and named “Old Friendship/Weeden School”.

Over the next decade or so the town continued to grow with the establishment of the Santa Fe railroad through the southern part of the county. Tribbey’s one-room school was outgrown and additional rooms were added to compensate for the new students.

While the Tribbey School district was booming, other area schools, beginning with Ashby and Prospect, realized the benefit of having a larger school presence and consolidated into Tribbey. Soon after Solomon’s Temple, Council Creek, Pitman, Old Morrell, and Trousdale schools also consolidated into the district.

Around the same time, the campaign to fit Tribbey with an accredited high school program began under the guidance of Supt. Oliver Akin. He was responsible for getting the ninth grade established, and closely following the end of World War 1 a four-year high school was established. Tribbey was experiencing joyful growing pains and the small white frame building would no longer be suitable.

And while in my research, I discovered many people could not locate a built date for this school, I began to get a bit worried that I wouldn’t either. But thankfully, one student helped make sure Tribbey School history was documented forever in an essay they wrote and published in 1957. It details that this large brick building was built in 1921 to accommodate the large growth the district was experiencing.

Superintendent Henry Weston was the first to serve in this new school building. They considered 1921 a banner year for Tribbey as it was the year of growth and their first high school graduate, Abbott Bailey. It would be another two years before they would have another one.

New trees were planted a few years later on the school grounds, leafing out beautifully. Another big improvement was the purchase of two brand new school trucks from the “Wanette Motor man.”

While most wouldn’t assume much from a small town school, Tribbey was fitted with different sports teams and set a standard of excellence that other area schools yearned for. Surprisingly, they even had a tennis team and court. Superintendent Farmer was the first one to play on the newly built court in 1924. Other sports and extracurriculars included volleyball, basketball, baseball, and a glee club.

More improvements came during the 1930s. A CWA renovation of the school was done in ’34 and the addition of a WPA home economics cottage in ’39. Built of native stone and still standing today, its design resembles that of a home. Twenty-seven men worked on the $4,592 building and finished within just a few months. Inside, it included three sewing machines, a butane gas stove, a refrigerator, 3 large cutting tables, and a hot water heater.

While the exact year the gym was built isn’t quite known, I can tell you that it was built under G.L. Harrison’s superintendence. It was due to Tribbeys’ many superintendents that the success of the school went on for as long as it did. One of the most memorable was Jack Roberts, who was in the school system for over 25 years.

One of the fun extracurriculars was the bi-weekly printing of the school newspaper named “The Whirlwind.” The editing staff at the time of its establishment in 1945 was Ermalee Mitchell, Anita Klinglesmith, Wilma Lee Jones, Delores Williams, Aline Farr, Carl Hale, Mrs. Nadine Orr, Mrs. J.W. Owens, and Louise Nobels.

Things started to get rocky around the late 1950s and into the 1960s. Most rural consolidated schools around this time faced the threat of losing their federal funds, which would render them unable to continue. But funding was approved for the year 1959, and they went on to conquer another year.

But the good luck ran out by 1967, funding threats and a lack of students left the Tribbey School in the position to close. The school was annexed to Wanette and the building became a community building. It was used as a polling location, event space, and reunion location and more until at least 2005 before it was vacated for good.

As recently as ~2018, a renovation was attempted on the building. A few rooms show evidence of the work that was done, like new drywall, but it was ultimately abandoned. The building currently sits boarded up and ready for a new life in the small town of Tribbey, hoping one day it can serve its community again.

Gallery Below of Tribbey School

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