{"nrhp_refnum":"97001072","name":"Tacoma School","other_names":["Tacoma School Community Center","DHR File No.097-0001"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4408 Stone Mountain Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Coeburn","county":"Wise County","state":"VA","lat":36.93505471900005,"lon":-82.53204207699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-09-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, four-room brick schoolhouse at 4408 Stone Mountain Road near Coeburn in Wise County, Virginia, built around 1922 and rebuilt in 1937 after a fire.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is the sole visible reminder of the former coal and rail town of Tacoma, tying it to the region's coal mining and railroad boom (Criterion A). It also reflects the influence of North Carolina's 1911 public schoolhouse plans on schools in southwestern Virginia (Criterion C). It is one of only two surviving schools of four in Wise County built from those plans.","narrative":"Tacoma School is a one-story, nine-bay brick schoolhouse on Stone Mountain Road near Coeburn, Wise County, Virginia. It was built around 1922 from a 1911 North Carolina plan book design, one of four Wise County schools believed to follow that plan. A fire in 1936 damaged it badly, and it was rebuilt on its original foundation in 1937 with a hip roof and the same tall twelve-over-twelve windows with transoms. Inside, four original classrooms open off a central hall, retaining wainscoting, chalkboards and wood floors. The school served the community of Tacoma, a coal and railroad town incorporated in 1890 that later declined, until the county school board closed it in 1973. A local non-profit group bought it in 1993, and it now serves as a community center for meetings, polling, picnics and bluegrass music. It is one of only two surviving schools of its type in the county and the only one in public use.","period_of_significance":"1922-1946","architect_builder":"[based on plans by] Thomson, Frank K. & Barrett, Charles W.","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century American Movements","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Used as a community center and recreation facility since 1993, with a classroom kept as a period room; also used for voting, meetings and social events.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.218654-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/6841/41684194/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/97001072.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001072/65c20f551c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001072/65c20f551c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"James Shelton32","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tacoma_School.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">James Shelton32</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tacoma_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41684194","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16901034"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/wise-county/tacoma-school-97001072/"}