Photographing in the Dust Bowl, Part I
While driving through Texas County in the northwest Oklahoma panhandle about three weeks ago, I went looking for abandoned farmsteads and homes to photograph. I was specially hoping to find buildings that had survived the Dust Bowl in the 1930's. After a long drive, I spent the night in a town that was an epicenter for some of the worst dust storms that wreaked havoc on the area, then drove out the next morning in search of some history.
There were probably more farms in the area when it was built, and during the growing season, you’d have a hard time spotting this building from the road, but on the cool February morning I was there, I was able to spot it from the highway with no problem.
From the highway, this (above) is one of the first homes I found, standing alone and isolated out in the bare fields. It wasn't until I walked in the back door that I realized this wasn't a house, but an old school, complete with five or six chalkboards still hanging on the walls. Amazingly, there was no graffiti anywhere and it was free of any vandalism, despite having been abandoned to the elements since at least the 1950's, most likely longer. Maybe it was vacated during the Dust Bowl, when the population dwindled so much and the county ran out of money so that they couldn't keep the school open?
The storm shelter survives in almost perfect condition.
The original storm shelter, just a concrete underground bunker, was still standing out in the back, where I could imagine school children huddled inside when a tornado or dust cloud rolled through.
After searching on the internet, I couldn't find any more information about this long lost school. It's like it never existed...
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