As part of the 2016 EPISD Bond Issue, Crockett Elementary School, located at 3200 Wheeling in El Paso, received a complete restoration and remodel which was accomplished in February of this year. Budgeted at $11.1 Million, the renovation came in over a Million dollars under budget and took only 18 months to complete. The building, as it stands today, is gorgeous and modern, yet true to its original design.
Overlooking Memorial Park in Manhattan Heights, Crockett was completed and opened to pupils in December of 1920, students beginning to attend the facility during the middle of the school year. Originally named Manhattan School, the building was designed to accommodate 900 students and cost $80,000 to erect. The school was scheduled to open earlier in the year, however there were delays in construction. Work began on the school in February of 1920. The school was renamed Crockett very early in its history, at least before 1928 and probably earlier.
The building was designed by the firm of H.M. Beutell & Bradford Hardie, led by established El Paso architect H.M. Beutell. Beutell, who began practicing in El Paso in 1912, was well known at the time for his involvement protesting the County Commissioner's decision to award the County Courthouse to Trost & Trost in 1915. The Commissioners had solicited several area architectural firms for plans, then awarded the contract to Trost without even looking at the submitted drawings from competing firms - and Beutell protested with several letters to the Editor claiming that Trost won the commission because of "connections".
The building is designed in a Collegiate Gothic architectural style, patterned after the 1912 Saint Martin's College in Lacey, Washington. Collegiate Gothic is an adaptation of the mid-1800s Gothic Revival and is primarily used in educational buildings, especially colleges. Although Beutell designed a number of El Paso buildings, mostly residences and apartment structures, Crockett Elementary remains his signature work in El Paso.
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 9/23/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 9/23/2020 |
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| 1928 newspaper clipping courtesy of Yearbook Digital at http://www.yearbookdigital.com/yearbooks/yb_1928_schools_of_el_paso/yb_1928_public_schools_of_el_paso_texas_0016.jpg |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 9/23/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 9/23/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 9/23/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 9/23/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 9/23/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 9/23/2020 |
