DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight from the stone. Back in 1934, the Federal Works Progress Administration, the WPA, put their workers to a task out on the Locke Hill school grounds. And these weren't soft hands doing the building.
Federal workers quarried limestone from a nearby source and shaped it into an auditorium that would stand for generations. The county superintendent had called for school improvements, and somebody listened. That building went up as an answer to that call, and it became more than a school facility.
It became a central community space, the kind of place a whole region gathers around. Now, time has a way of outgrowing things, even good things. After the war, growth came to this corner of Bexar County, and it came fast.
More students, new standards, and an old building that just couldn't stretch any further. In 1976, the Locke Hill School was rebuilt less than one mile away to meet those new demands. Less than a mile.
Close enough to look back and remember. But here's the thing about limestone. It doesn't apologize, and it doesn't disappear.
That auditorium the WPA built in 1934 is still standing, still testifying to what San Antonio believed about education, and still making the case that some things built with purpose have a way of outlasting every reason anyone might have had to tear them down.
What the marker says
In 1934, the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) built an auditorium on the original Locke Hill school grounds. Federal workers constructed the limestone building out of stone from a nearby quarry. Built to address the county superintendent’s call for school improvements, the auditorium served as a central community space. Following post-war growth, the school’s infrastructure no longer met increased student needs. In 1976, the Locke Hill School was rebuilt less than one mile away to accommodate more students and to meet new building standards. The historic auditorium exists as a longstanding testament to San Antonio’s commitment to education. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2014