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| Thomastown School (Kodak Panatomic-X film, Leica IIIC, 50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens) |
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| Thomastown School (Kodak Tri-X film, Tachihara 4×5" camera, 135mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar S-II lens) |
A forlorn school sits on an overgrown lot near the junction of US 80 (the former Dixie Overland Highway) and Mound Road (also shown on Google Maps as Thomastown Road). I first saw this abandoned school when I biked on Mound Road as a way to bypass some of the traffic on US 80. Well, maybe it is not technically abandoned. A farmer must own the buildings, because he stores hay rolls on the former parking lot and parks tractors and machinery in the former gymnasium. But the classrooms are a mess and totally neglected.
According to one website, the Thomastown High School was an all-black establishment that closed in 2001. But two readers commented that it was a mixed school.
The one-storey section on the north was mid-1960s mass production with a brick exterior. The bricks are in good condition, but the roof is leaking. The large windows show that this building did not have air conditioning when it was built.
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| (Hasselblad 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens) |
The south section was two-storey, and when I first saw the building from the road, I thought this might be an abandoned mid-century motel. The wide overhangs on both floors were designed to provide some shade to the windows (an architectural feature that more homes should use). The panels on the overhangs were asbestos sheets; many have fallen they crunch underfoot when you walk next to the building.
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| Classroom on west side (Kodak Gold 100 film, Hasselblad 501 CM, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, minor fill flash on ceiling) |
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| Central hallway with intact cinderblock walls |
Needless to say, the interior is a mess of debris, with dripping roof panels, standing water, and chipping paint.
This has been our short tour of a semi-abandoned school. I hope the children who attended have fond memories of their years here. I have no information about its fate. If it is privately-owned now, it may sit here moldering for decades.
The color photographs are from 120-size Kodak Gold 100 film. The film was long expired but had been stored in a freezer. I exposed it at EI=64 in my Hasselblad 501CM camera, with all frames tripod-mounted. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta ScanMulti medium format film scanner. Most frames had a green shift, but the middle grey dropper tool in the scanning software corrected the colors reasonably well.
18 comments:
Yum. Crunchy asbestos with a topping of lead-based paint.
The Kodak Gold held up well.
Interesting. I had looked up the school after your last post on Mound. Thomastown was the headquarters of LADELTA Co-Operative Association, a resettlement project from the Farm Security Administration in 1938. It was for African Americans, and had 147 farmsteads. The built a school, the cotton gin, and other co-op facilities.
Suzassippi, thanks for the note on a Co-op. I will drive over there and look for a gin. I do not recall seeing one, but maybe I was not paying attention.
Or, most likely, much has been demolished, deteriorated, or lost to the same ravages as the school. I tried to find out more, but turns out not much news about Thomastown. You know me, though, I will look a bit more. I really appreciate how you document these spaces. You need to do a gallery show somewhere!
I went to school here at Thomastown from the 2nd through the 8th grades. I have many memories in these buildings and on the playgrounds. I'll be 58 next month and yet when I saw the picture of the inside of the classroom I recognized the walls and the windows immediately... even after all these years. Sad to see it in such shape.
Ms. Gilstrap, I did a follow up submission on the farms and the school for the Living New Deal Project. You might be interested in checking it, as it has photographs of the houses and school shortly after it was finished. The URL is https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/thomastown-community-ladelta-co-operative-association-farm-settlement-tallulah-la/
Rhonda, Thank you for writing about your memory of the school. As of summer 2022, the two buildings are so covered with vines, if you casually drive (or bicycle) past, you would not know there were buildings under the foliage.
My fathers first school he attended as a child living in Delta, Louisiana
Hi. I also lived in a Delta, LA and when to school here briefly. Would you tell me who your father is?
It's interesting to see it called an "all black" school. I'm white and went to school here in the 6th grade and again for half the 9th grade before my parents sent me to a private school in Vicksburg. That was in 1977. There were a few white people in each grade. That outside metal stair case in your picture i actually fell down and broke my ankle in 9th grade. Actually went to see the school today and if you didn't already know there was a building there and drove by, you'd never know. Nature has worked hard to reclaim it. Great pictures.
Thomastown was established as an all-black community in 1938 under the New Deal Administration. The school remained segregated until 1967 when Madison Parish finally began to desegregate its schools in compliance with the law.
Thank you all (y'awl) for your memories and observations.
I went to school there until 1999. My two oldest siblings graduated from there
I actually went to ThomasTown between 1993-1998. 3rd grade Mrs. Newtons class I miss her, my favorite teacher of all time. 5th grade I forgot her name but Mrs Kubrike Williams was her co. I think I was there for 7th aswell. Good times
I'm glad you had a good experience there at school. Thanks for commenting.
My sister and I went to the school there in high school (my junior year, her sophomore year) 1987-88. My dad was in the Army and he was stationed in Vicksburg and we lived across the river in Delta, LA. It was a K-12 school in my time, and may have always been. I see that you have a link describing it as an all black school but during my year there there were a limited number of white and hispanic students there, including myself. It's worth noting that the students were all extremely friendly with each other, and I say that as a person who attended more than a few schools due to my dad's career. It was an extended family as much as a school. I only went there for a year and I had enough experience in other rural schools to understand even at that age that it was not well funded, but the teachers were good, and some were great. Mr. Jackson, the English teacher, stands out in my memory. The gym was affectionately called "The Matchbox" when I was there due to its small size, but the basketball games were well attended by people in the area. The coach was a man named Carlos Ford who had played in the NBA and was a local basketball legend. I believe his dad was also named Carlos and had been the coach in earlier years. The food in the cafeteria was great and I've bought more than a few meals in nice restaurants since then that were not as good. Those ladies could cook! We were sent home early a couple of times when I attended due to heavy rain (there were roof leaks then) and alligators that would come up very near the school and the playground where the elementary school kids played. I've thought about the place over the years and had no idea it was closed. It was a bit of history even then, with long bus rides to collect kids from tiny houses around the entire area, and even in my teens I was aware that it was like something from a time past. I wasn't from a wealthy family by any means, but it was a very poor area, really on another level, and the kids were among the nicest I ever went to school with in spite of that.
Sorry, I posted anonymously but my name is Jeff Walker.
Mr. Walker, thank you for the insightful comment! I'ts rewarding to hear from someone who went to school at Thomastown. And thank you for the complementary comments on the other students, teachers, and cooks.
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