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Suburban Underground Vadders
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Rhodessa School
*Click on the thumbnails to view the full pictures*
A few months ago I went to visit my parents in East Texas. They had been telling me about a place that THEY wanted to go explore with me. I was all for this. The place they found had apparently been a school in a little town a few minutes into Louisiana.
It’s kinda funny that the only places I have explored in Louisiana have both been schools, not that I in any way mind. This place is quite a bit larger than the school near the Black Bayou. This one has two stories, a large gym and a basement.
I had my mom do some research about the place and this is what she found out:
“Well, today I went to Rodessa and found out a little about the school. It was called Rodessa High School and was built about 1938 during the oil boom there. It was built with oil money. It had all grades 1-12 but later had only 1-8 and the rest went to Vivian High School. (the one Grandma graduated from that one was torn down and they built a new one that is there now.) There were about 800 students there at one time and the football team was called the Rodessa Red Bulls and won the state (Louisiana) championship in 1948 for 3A schools. The school closed about 1962 and all the kids went to Vivian or McLeod Schools. The town didn't know what to do with it because they weren't sure who owned it because it was built with oil money by the oil company so the school board took it over but didn't do anything with it so they asked the town if they wanted it but they said no. Later some man bought it to maybe make into a senior residence building or a rehabilitation hospital but it was in such bad shape he didn't do anything but put up a fence. The town thinks it should be torn down because it is so dangerous. I learned all this from an old man in his late 70's or early 80's and a woman in her early 90's that was there checking out a book. I was lucky the Rodessa Library is only open Mondays and Wednesdays.” “Also, the gym was used for a lot of functions like square dancing etc. because the floor was so nice. I am not sure if it was while the school was still in use or if it was later. A Coach from the school and his wife who was a teacher at the school lives down the street. The old man said I could go talk to them but I didn't want to just go and knock on the door.”
Wow Mom, great job! :)
Here is the side of the gym. Most of the windows of this place were busted out and completely overgrown. Full sized trees have started to out grow the 2 story building and almost completely concealed the front of the building.
The gym was also the school auditorium. You can see that many people had been here before us. We went into the door pictured on the left.
Inside we found one of the locker rooms and it included a trap door. I have to wonder if it was ever used by the students.
Looking back towards the gym, you can see an old gas heater and cubby holes for putting your clothes while in gym class.
Just a window in the shower area of one of the locker rooms.
The stage separated these two rooms. The curtains had been torn down and the steps to the buckled hardwood gym floor had rotted away. We decided to go through the doors at the far end.
Turning around while at the doorway, we could see not much was left of the seating on the other side.
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