Architectural History

El Reno High School, located at 405 South Choctaw in El Reno, Oklahoma

El Reno, Oklahoma

El Reno is a city in Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States, in the central part of the state. A part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area, El Reno is west of downtown Oklahoma City...

, is a -story horizontally massed, detached building (two stories over raised basement). Measuring 175 feet east-west and 132 feet north-south, the building is oriented in an east-west direction, with the main (1911) entrance facing west on South Choctaw. The school is located in a mixed-use area, with residential areas to the west and southwest, and commercial areas to the north and east.

The El Reno High School building was constructed in two phases. The west half, or El Reno High School proper, constructed in 1911, was designed by the Oklahoma City firm of Layton and Smith, Oklahoma's premier architects and designers of the Oklahoma State Capitol Building as well as many public schools. The east half, originally built for junior high school classes, was designed by an unknown architect and was constructed in 1925-1926.

In style, the El Reno High School building incorporates many of the elements of Late Gothic Revival as applied to public buildings, also known as Collegiate Gothic. The major features of this building include: flat roof with raised, shaped, and/or castellated parapet; towers with long, narrow "princess" windows; pinnacles rising from parapets or towers; and polychrome surfaces, or contrasting brick and stone work, with stone work forming copings, window and door hoods, arches, horizontal bands or water tables, and quoins. In general the two defining characteristics of the building were the decorative stonework and, before alteration, the windows. Bedford Indiana Limestone

Indiana Limestone

Indiana Limestone, also known as Bedford Limestone is a common regional term for Salem limestone, a geological formation primarily quarried in south central Indiana between Bloomington and Bedford....

creates hood moldings that accentuate the openings and bands that emphasize the horizontal massing.

Notable Achievements

• Basketball State Champions in 1921, 1924, 1926, 1932, 1933, 1946, 1949, and 1953. Runners up in 1920, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1959, and 1998.
• Golf State Champions in 1987 and runners up in 1997.
• Baseball State Champions in 1967, 1991, 1992 and 2006.
• Wrestling Dual State Champions from 1996 to 2005 and State Champions from 1996 to 2010. Dual State runners up in 1995.
• Runners up in Oklahoma State Football Championship in 1956, 1957, 1967, 1981, 1999 and 2004-2010.