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Back in June 2020 I was heading back to Mississippi to visit family and decided to hit up a couple of locations that were a minutes out of the way. One of my stops was the old Hanna School in Hanna, Louisiana.
Hanna School – History
In 1912 the Red River Parish School District built the Hanna School for African American students. According to one source, the class sizes were on the small size. During the 1930s the school was renovated.
By the 1970s the school was segregated by race. In 1980 the school was integrated and both white and African American students were in Attendance. At that time school was considered state of the art by the Red River Parish School Board.
in 2001 Asbestos was found in the walls and roof. By 2002 the school was abandoned. From the pictures I shot from the fence line, many of the windows are missing and several people have reported the second floor has collapsed into the first causing damage to the first floor.
In 1912 the Red River Parish School District built the Hanna School for African American students. According to one source, the class sizes were on the small size. During the 1930s the school was renovated.
The Red River Parish School District and Red River Parish Board have offered to redevelop the school in the past but as you can see nothing has been done. Even though the school is a 100+ years old, restoration isn’t an option because of the high cost to remove the asbestos and letting the building go.
About the Images
Hanna School was shot from the roadside on a bright sunny mid afternoon. I using my Sony a6000 with my Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS. I then edited the images with Adobe Lightroom CC, Topaz Labs Denoise AI; Topaz Labs Sharpen AI and DXO NIK Collection to clean up the images.
About James
Wow thats neat
I would like to know where you acquired your facts because I am trying to research that areas history and I know that school has been abandoned since before the 1980s.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. The information was pulled from several sources. One was familiar with the area and part of a Facebook group who shared pictures and history they found about the school. When I asked when the building was closed, they said the listed dates. The rest of the information was pulled from ahistorical website that listed the school’s history and the site was removed from the web (or I can’t seem to find it). I found some pictures of the interior that were taken a few years back and the decay looks a lot worse than a building being abandoned 20 years ago. So, I do question the closure date.
From what you found… was the school completely abandoned or was it still in private use after the school closed? I haven’t looked at public records yet, but I was told the property was privately owned.
I’m always open to adding more history or making changes when someone has updated information. If you have any more information about the school, please reach out to me. I’d love to add more to the school’s history.
Hanna was closed in 1981. My Aunt was a teacher there. It close because of low attendance. I went to school there from 1974-1978.
Thanks for the confirmation, I will add your information to the article. I have found several more recent results saying the school closed in the early 1980s and several saying it closed in the 2000s because of asbestos. I wonder if they kept the school open as a community center or some other public use building and then closed it completely after finding the asbestos. When I get some free time will start researching that area.
My husband’s mother, aunts and uncles attended cira 1940-1950. I’ve been searching for yearbooks if they had any
My family owns the property now. The building was built in the 1930’s. When
it closed as a school, it was not used for anything else and became a victim of time. It was purchased by another family. My parents then bought the land, including the building, 18 years ago (2006) and it was already completely destroyed inside, from time and vandalism. They got an estimate to have it torn down, but at that time it would’ve cost over $25,000 because of the presence of asbestos. It would have to be completely contained to demolish it. Today, it would cost even more. Remaining family members would love to maintain the exterior better but are unable.
I love old buildings and am always very curious. But please remember, this is private property (and in this case, someone’s yard) and trespassing is a crime and an invasion of someone’s property. I sincerely thank you James, for not crossing the property line for these pics. It is very much appreciated!
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your experience with the property. I’ve currently looking to document all the schools that the district closed and currently have found all of them. I just haven’t reached out to them for access or for their knowledge of the building. Sending you an email.