{"nrhp_refnum":"04001186","name":"Ocilla Public School","other_names":["Irwin County Elementary School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4th and Alder Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ocilla","county":"Irwin County","state":"GA","lat":31.59470371100008,"lon":-83.25362912899999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-10-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, U-shaped Colonial Revival school building at 4th and Alder streets, two blocks west of downtown Ocilla, Irwin County, Georgia, built 1934-1936, with an International Style cafeteria and classroom building added around 1960.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is an excellent example of Colonial Revival and International Style school architecture in rural Georgia. It also represents Irwin County's effort to provide a modern consolidated school during a period of statewide school consolidation, replacing an earlier, more crowded campus.","narrative":"Ocilla Public School is a one-story, U-shaped school two blocks west of downtown Ocilla in Irwin County, Georgia. Construction began in 1934 and finished in 1936, funded through federal relief programs and built by local workers and prisoners from the county penal system. The stucco building has brick quoins, arched entrances and windows, and a central auditorium seating 700, flanked by two classroom wings around a courtyard. Heart-pine floors, transoms, wainscoting and original auditorium seating survive. Around 1960 a flat-roofed International Style cafeteria and classroom building closed the courtyard to handle growing postwar enrollment. The school replaced an earlier 1904 campus that had become overcrowded, and it reflects the consolidation of rural schools in Georgia. It became Irwin County Elementary School in the early 1950s, was integrated by 1970, and closed in 1987. It was listed for its architecture and its role in local education.","period_of_significance":"1934-c.1960","architect_builder":"Parrott, Lauren (architect)","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival; Modern movement: International Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed current function is vacant/not in use; the school closed in 1987. The interior plan and most interior finishes remain intact.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.589008-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/04001186.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001186/9602ea3975-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001186/9602ea3975-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Michael Rivera","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ocilla_Public_School_(South_face).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael Rivera</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ocilla_Public_School_(South_face).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93208686","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocilla_Public_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29093433"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/irwin-county/ocilla-public-school-04001186/"}