Eaton Elementary School

About this property

Eaton Elementary School, also known as Third Ward School, is located at 1105 McInnis Ave. in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States. It was utilized as a public school building from 1905 until the late 1980s. The building was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1991. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The original Eaton School building is a two-story brick structure with a 12-bay front facade that contains round-arch window frames and a hip roof, previously covered with asphalt shingles. A stucco finish was applied to the brick outer walls at an unspecified date. The ground-level entrance on the north facade was topped with a round-arch transom. A steel fire escape for the second floor is mounted on the west end of the front facade. The south facade was less ornate, with an entrance door on the first floor flanked by 4 arched window frames on the east end and 10 windows in arched frames on the second floor. The east elevation contains 7 arched window frames on the first and second floors. The center window frame on the second floor of the east elevation contains a metal door for accessing a steel fire escape. The west elevation was modified in 1949 by a one-story cafeteria addition. Both floors of the 1905 building were subdivided into four classrooms, off a central hallway. Plastered walls had beadboard wainscotting at the height of the window sills. Ceilings were also beadboard. The original building is believed to have been designed by Hattiesburg architect Robert E. Lee and was constructed in 1905. The building's Romanesque Revival architectural style was common in early 20th century school designs, but Eaton School is considered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) to be a unique example of the architecture because the building has survived intact for more than 100 years. The school's name was derived from an early settler, George Eaton, who donated the land where the school was built. In 1949, a one-story, flat-roof, brick addition was constructed on the west end of the original building, under the direction of architects Hearon & McCleskey. It contained three classrooms and a cafeteria/meeting space with a stage. In 1957, a one-story, flat-roof, brick auditorium addition, designed by Associated School Architects, was constructed and connected to the stage from the earlier addition. By the late 1980s, the original building no longer served as a public school. When it was assessed for National Register status during the first decade of the 21st century, deferred maintenance had resulted in a leaking roof.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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