Howell School

Howell School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	408 E. Newton St., Dothan, Alabama
Coordinates
Built	1902 (1902)
Architect	J. W. Baughman
Architectural style	Late Victorian
NRHP Reference #	13000406
Added to NRHP	June 26, 2013

Howell School is a historic school building in Dothan, Alabama. The school was built in 1902 to replace the previous grammar school that had burned in 1901. It was named in 1916 for the recently deceased Dr. Robert Graves Howell, who was mayor when the first grammar school was built. A second school was built in 1911, and Howell was replaced by Minnie T. Heard Elementary School in 1942. After being used by the Salvation Army during World War II, the building was converted for use as a textile mill in 1947. A number of companies operated out of the building until 1952, when the Dothan Manufacturing Company took over the property. A one-story addition was constructed on the front of the building in 1965, obscuring the façade. The plant closed in 1997, and was sold to the Southern Alabama Regional Council on the Aging in 2003, before the city re-acquired it in 2008.

The building combines Romanesque Revival and Renaissance Revival styles. The front façade originally had a mansard roofed tower, which was later removed. The outer three bays as well as the center bay project slightly, and are separated by pilasters with Corinthian terra cotta capitals. The entablature contains a plain architrave and frieze separated by a terra cotta band, and a pressed metal cornice with modillions. On the main façade, two dormers project from the hipped roof, while gabled dormers with round vents pierce the roof on the ends. A wing projects from the center of the rear of the building. All second floor window openings, as well as the multi-story windows on the wing, are arched with terra cotta hoodmolds.

The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.