DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most folks hear 'Great Depression' and think of hard times, empty pockets, and making do with less. And they wouldn't be wrong.
But out at West Texas State Teachers College, somebody looked at those hard times and said — we're gonna build something. Something that'll last. And friend, they were not entirely wrong about that either.
The project kicked off in 1933, and what made it remarkable right from the start wasn't just what they were building — it was how. Student labor. Community donations.
State and federal funding all pooled together into one ambitious undertaking. That's not how most campuses put up a building. That's a community betting on itself with whatever it had in its pockets.
They didn't stop at local stone, either. Limestone, petrified wood, and other rock was quarried out of Texas and New Mexico both. They were reaching out across state lines to pull this thing together.
What rose up from all that effort was a full complex — a fieldhouse, athletic dormitories, an outdoor swimming pool, stone walls, and stadium bleachers. Now here's where the story gets a little bittersweet, the way so many good Texas stories do. Much of that facility was later razed.
Gone. Only one piece survived — the two-story recreation hall, completed in 1941, still standing today. And let me tell you, what's left is worth keeping.
Petrified wood on the exterior. Large stone fireplaces. A stone staircase.
And up on the second floor — a hardwood dance floor. In the 1980s, the alumni association moved its headquarters right here into that building. A place born out of a community pulling together wound up becoming, fittingly enough, the place where that community's memory lives on.
What the marker says
A unique community venture at West Texas State Teachers College during the Great Depression produced an architectural landmark. The project began in 1933 and used student labor, community donations, and state and federal funding. Limestone, petrified wood and other rock was quarried in Texas and New Mexico. The complex included a fieldhouse, athletic dormitories, an outdoor swimming pool, stone walls and stadium bleachers. Much of the facility was later razed; only the two-story recreation hall completed in 1941 remains standing. The facility has a petrified wood exterior, large stone fireplaces and staircase, and a second-story hardwood dance floor. In the 1980s, the alumni association moved its headquarters here. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2007