605 E BROAD ST 

In the early years of settlement, most of Mansfield’s buildings were constructed of wood, and as time went on, of brick. Stone construction was rare, appearing primarily only in this sandstone gymnasium built by the Works Progress Admin­istration (WPA) and as veneer on a few houses on the out­skirts of central Mansfield. The Rock Gymnasium was built from rock quarried in the nearby Bisbee communi­ty, now a part of Mansfield. The gymnasium walls are 18 inches thick.

Since 1867, schools have stood at this site. The first school was the Mansfield Male and Female College, followed by the Mansfield Academy in 1901. With the creation of the Mansfield Independent School District in 1909, the Academy building was pur­chased for public schooling. In 1924 it was demolished and replaced with a brick building for the Mansfield High School. 

The gymnasium, located be­hind the high school, was built between 1939 and 1940 under the WPA program. The project employed 40 men. With the population at the time being 774, it may be assumed that a large part of Mansfield was fed, housed and clothed by the project.