Look to your right and you will spot a massive reddish-brown stucco building featuring a classic gabled roofline and a distinctly layered, stepped entryway. This is the Mohave Union High School Gymnasium, and it is a fitting final stop for our journey. Before we look at the architecture, we should acknowledge what rests beneath our feet. This campus was built directly over Kingman's Pioneer Cemetery. A relocation effort in 1944 charged families a 45 dollar transfer fee, which is roughly 780 dollars today. That was a steep price during wartime, meaning hundreds of early settlers and Hualapai tribal members were left interred beneath the soil. When modern renovations began, workers unearthed coffins, graves, and personal artifacts. Naturally, local lore insists the campus is haunted by a ghostly little girl and a phantom man in a bowler hat. The eerie atmosphere even prompted some modern construction crews to participate in a Native American smudging ceremony, burning sacred herbs to calm the restless spirits. The school also honors heroes of a more recent era. In 1973, a railway gas tanker exploded in Kingman, claiming the lives of twelve volunteer firefighters. Among them was former high school principal Richard Lee Williams. Today, the new school on this site bears his name, and the students proudly compete as the Volunteers.
Now, take a glance down the side of the gymnasium. You will notice thick, angled supports projecting from the exterior walls. These are buttresses, structures designed to brace the walls against outward pressure, and this is the only building in Kingman that uses them. Inside is another rarity called a lamella roof, which is a beautifully vaulted ceiling made from a crisscrossing diamond pattern of short wooden beams. Both are unique touches of its Moderne design, an architectural style famous for clean, geometric lines. Constructed in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration, the gym cost 50,000 dollars, or about 1.1 million today. The man who brought it to life was contractor P.W. Womack. Womack was a true rags-to-riches figure who actually skipped most of high school to work as a carpenter. It is quite poetic that a high school dropout went on to build a massive construction empire, cementing his legacy with this very educational monument. That enduring construction was put to the ultimate test in January 1973, when a devastating suspected arson fire completely destroyed the main school building next door. While the rest of the campus burned to the ground, Womack's gymnasium stood firm and survived the inferno intact. As our tour comes to a close, this steadfast gymnasium stands as a perfect symbol of Kingman itself. We have seen how a raw, dusty outpost was steadily hammered into a thriving, unified city by iron rails, sturdy bricks, and the sheer determination of the people who settled here. Thank you for walking these streets with me, and enjoy the rest of your time exploring this incredibly resilient town.
