Lynville’s 1947 gymnasium is 1.5 stories. The gable roof building is still standing, and appears to be in remarkably good shape. You can see interior photographs from the MDAH HRI database. Since no one showed up to play but me and Malvaney, it’s a forfeit for the rest of you, and we hold current title for best 2-person team playing against no one. We’ll be defending our title a little later as I spot another rural gym. Ya’ll really got to get your gear together!
Categories: Schools
Preservation in Mississippi 
Thank you for these pictures. My father, W. A. Barnett (born 1922), played high school basketball for Cleveland School, which was located just 7 miles south of Lynville. I’m quite sure that he competed in this gymnasium during his playing days in the late 1930’s. I wish he were still alive to see these pictures. It would have brought back many memories for him of days and nights when boys unaware of their destiny to be fighting a war just three short years later were simply playing a boys game.
LikeLike
Thank you, Mr. Barnett, for sharing that story of your father. You can read an entry of the Cleveland school from a few weeks back at my personal blog, at http://suzassippi.blogspot.com/2014/09/cleveland-community-school-kemper-county.html
LikeLike
Then again, I just noticed where this gym is dated 1947. Does that mean it was built in that year?
LikeLike
According to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, that was the construction date. I have searched the newspaper archives to try to locate additional information, but been unable to find anything. Perhaps other readers might know, and I will search again. Many of the gyms built during the late 30s and early 40s under the New Deal Administration were similar, but there may have been some earlier and later that also used the same construction. According to Malvaney, the Education Department used the same basic plans for many of their buildings, for example, the home economics cottages and vocational buildings.
LikeLike
Looks older than 1947.
LikeLike