Location Information
(for the Eaton 3rd Ward School)
Name:Eaton (3rd Ward) School
Address:1105 McInnis Avenue
City/County:Hattiesburg, Forrest County
Architectural Information
Construction Date:1905
Architectural Styles(s):Romanesque
No. of Stories:2.5
Registration Information
NR Listing Date:16 Jul 2008
View National Register Nomination Form
Mississippi Landmark Information
Designated:06-07-1991
Recorded:08-08-1991
Book/Vol. No.:V. 656, p. 698
Context/Comments
The Eaton Elementary School is significant for its association with education for the role it played in providing public schooling to generations of Hattiesburg students. Serving as a white school, the original two-story wing of the school was built in 1905, marking a period of rapid population growth in Hattiesburg following the completion of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad in 1897. The building, probably designed by local architect Robert E. Lee, exemplifies many characteristics of the Romanesque Revival style, most notably the use of rounded arches for door and window openings and smooth wall finishes. A one-story brick addition with an auditorium/cafeteria and three classrooms, designed by Hattiesburg architects Hearon & McCleskey and built in 1949, marked a second period of rapid growth and a building boom in Hattiesburg.

This building was designated a Mississippi Landmark on 7 June 1991. It was listed on the National Register on 16 July 2008. Jennifer Baughn, MDAH Chief Architectural Historian, and Bill Gatlin, MDAH architectural historian, wrote the National Register nomination.
Brief Description
2-story, frame, 3-bay-wide (wwww-wddw-wwww) hipped roof, Romanesque Revival school. Bay 2 is a central pavilion with gabled parapet that slightly projects and features three windows (in gable end) which are accented with short corbeled pilasters. The MF entry is a pair of plate glass aluminum doors sheltered by a shed roof entry porch supported by metal poles resting on stair side rails. Windows, most boarded at time of survey, appear to be rounded arch 4/4 wood d-h-s. The school has a pier foundation, stucco over brick cladding, and a composite sheet roof liner. Distinctive features include a corbeled, denticulated cornice and a continuous relief molding accenting the second floor windows.
Historic Information
The 1949 addition resulted from the Post-World War II population increase and consists of three classrooms, kitchen, and flexible space for both a cafeteria and assembly hall. It was designed by Hearon & McCleskey of Hattiesburg. The 1957 auditorium addition was designed by Associated School Architects consisting of J. Warren McCleskey, T.R. Hearon, Steve Blair, and Waggoner Associates.