Clayton High School Auditorium is an historic structure serving the public school of

Clayton, Oklahoma Clayton is a town in northern Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 555 as of the 2020 Census. History Clayton was formerly known as Dexter. A United States Post Office was established at Dexter, Indian Territory on ...

. Clayton is located in the

Kiamichi Mountains The Kiamichi Mountains (Choctaw: ''Nʋnih Chaha Kiamitia'') are a mountain range in southeastern Oklahoma. A subrange within the larger Ouachita Mountains that extend from Oklahoma to western Arkansas, the Kiamichi Mountains sit within Le Flor ...

Pushmataha County, Oklahoma Pushmataha County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,812. Its county seat is Antlers. The county was created at statehood from part of the former territory of the ...

. The

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

was constructed as a

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA) public works project in 1936-1937, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. It provided much-needed jobs in the Clayton area, which had been economically ravaged. According to an architectural survey completed in 1988, the auditorium is almost unique in being only one of two known WPA buildings constructed for sole use as auditoriums rather than as dual-use auditoriums and

gymnasiums A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

. (Much more common elsewhere in the county and Oklahoma was the dual-use auditorium and gymnasium, such as the WPA built elsewhere in the county in

Antlers, Oklahoma Antlers is a city in and the county seat of Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,221 as of the 2020 United States census. The town was named for a kind of tree that becomes festooned with antlers shed by deer, and ...

Moyers, Oklahoma Moyers is an unincorporated community located in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. History A permanent settlement has existed at the site of modern Moyers since at least the 1880s. During the 1880s the St. Louis-San Francisco Rail ...

and

Rattan, Oklahoma Rattan is a town in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 276 at the 2020 census. Geography Rattan is located in southern Pushmataha County at the intersection of Oklahoma routes 3 and 93. Rock Creek flows past just ...

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

was the prevalent architectural style during the 1930s, and the auditorium shows hints of it through its angular lines. The building is a single story T-shaped structure built of native untooled and uncoursed stone. According to the 1988 survey the stonework and masonry work are “excellent”. The roof is flat with parapets capped with limestone blocks. Entryways are recessed, and windows are emplaced in groups of two. A drainage ditch dug by the WPA surrounds the building and, like the building, has been kept in excellent condition. The building was nominated successfully to become part of the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1988. Justifying its inclusion was its unusual Art Deco allusions—uncommon among WPA buildings in the region—and its purpose as a sole-use auditorium.Nomination form submitted to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Courtesy NRHP archive, Washington, D.C. More information on Clayton may be found in the Pushmataha County Historical Society.

References

{{NRHP in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma School buildings completed in 1937 Art Deco architecture in Oklahoma School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma Buildings and structures in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma Works Progress Administration in Oklahoma Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma