Jones County High School

The Jones County High School, now known as the W.E. Knox Civic Center and also formerly known as Gray High School, was built in 1936 as a Public Works Administration project, to be a consolidated high school for white students. It was designed by architect Ellamae Ellis League.[2]

Jones County High School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	161 W. Clinton St., Gray, Georgia
Coordinates	33°0′26″N 83°32′19″W
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1936
Architect	Ellamae Ellis League
Architectural style	Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	99000555[1]
Added to NRHP	May 12, 1999

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.[1] It was deemed significant "as an excellent example of a H-plan school building representing the Colonial Revival style constructed with limited funds by the Public Works Administration, and for its architectural design by Ellamae Ellis League (1899-1991), a prominent and influential woman architect in Georgia."[2]^:6

Front entrance

It is a one-story wood frame brick veneer H-plan building with a center rear ell holding the school's auditorium. Its front has a central block and adjacent wings. The center has flat roof and parapet, a wide cornice, quoins, and 16-over-16 double-hung windows. Its main doorway is recessed in an arched entranceway.[2]

The building's owner was the Jones County/Gray Chamber of Commerce, since 1992. Nearby buildings, not included in the National Register listing, and all owned by the Jones County Board of Education, were the Jones County Junior High School with lunchroom, the Jones County Gymnasium, a Business Building, and a Vocational Building. A c.1935 library was demolished before 1999.[2]

As of 2007, it had been repurposed as the W.E. Knox Civic Center.[3]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. Pallante, Amy (March 1999). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Jones County High School". National Park Service. Retrieved April 13, 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) With 14 photos from 1999.
3. Lurie-Smith, Debbie (July 19, 2007). "Civic Center to be renamed for W. E. Knox". The Jones County News. Archived from the original on January 7, 2011. Retrieved April 10, 2017. ...friends and former Jones County High School students who filled the Charlotte Wilson Conference Room at the Government Center supporting the request of Sam Kelly....Kelly said he focused on the old high school building after a conversation with former Commission Chairman G.B. Moore III. Kelly said he told Moore his idea of naming something for Knox and Moore suggested the former high school building.