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1988 Terry Winner - Museum for East Texas Culture, Palestine, TX
The Museum for Texas Culture (John H. Reagan Junior School)
400 Micheaux Ave.
Palestine, TX 75801
904-723-1914
OTHER AWARDS: Texas Historical Marker; Registry of National Historic Places
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE: The 1915 Jacobean-Tudor style three story school building of 36,000 square feet is representative of schools built in the World War I Era. It was "hygienically, architecturally and mechanically correct." The exterior was embellished with cut limestone coping and trim with tile and decorative brick panels. It has flattened arches, lancet windows, and roof pediments with crenellations. Floors were of hardwood, and walls of cement plaster with chair, picture, and stairway hand rails. The building has two main and two secondary entrances. Classes began in Fall 1916 and it remained a high school until 1939 when it became Palestine Junior High School. Renamed John H. Reagan Junior School in 1955, from 1966 to 1976 it was an elementary school.
HOUSE HISTORY: The citizens of Palestine voted a $100,000 bond issue for building the new high school. Architects Marshall R. Sanguinet and Carl Gordon Staats of Ft. Worth designed the structure and A. W. Flynt of Fort Worth constructed the building. Local contractors did the plumbing, heating, ventilation and electrical wiring with home labor was used throughout.
RESTORATION: In 1981, the City of Palestine ordered the demolition of the abandoned and vandalized building, but a "Save Reagan School" group formed and secured a lease from the city and restored the building as a museum. More than 6,000 panes of broken glass were replaced, doors and sashes, plaster, stone, and concrete repaired. In November 1986, the building was formally dedicated as the Museum for East Texas Culture with exhibit galleries, art exhibits, meeting rooms, and an auditorium for community events.
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