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Cuba High School Annex, Missouri

Historic building
In Cuba, Missouri
0.1 mi from Route 66
National Register of Historic Places

The Cuba High School Annex is a stone school building in Cuba, MO, right by the old road. Built in 1934 with New Deal money, it now serves as the county historical society's museum for Crawford County. Its walls are built of native stone set in a so-called giraffe pattern, finished with grapevine joints, a style worth a close look. For Route 66 travellers, it offers both local history and some fine Depression-era stonework.

What is Cuba High School Annex?

The building is a two-story rectangle, 60 feet long and 30 feet wide, set on a raised basement and topped with a hipped roof. What makes it special is the stonework. Native stone of uneven sizes is laid in the random ashlar manner, and the joints between the pieces form a giraffe pattern, so called because the outlined stones resemble the patches on a giraffe's coat. The mortar joints are finished in the grapevine style.

Today the building houses the museum of the Crawford County Historical Society, with wheelchair access.

History of Cuba High School Annex

The annex went up in 1934, in the middle of the Great Depression. The money came from one of the federal relief programs of the time, the Civil Works Administration, or possibly the Works Progress Administration; the record does not say which.

The annex joined the National Register in 2013.

Visiting Cuba High School Annex: tips

Even from outside, the walls are the main attraction, so take a minute to look at the stone pattern up close. If the museum is open, allow half an hour or so inside. Cuba Lodge No. 312 A.F. and A.M., another stone building, is about 0.1 miles away, and the John Manson Munro House and the Uptown Cuba Historic District are each about 0.2 miles off. Since the building is a museum of county history, it makes a good first stop before walking Cuba's other listed buildings, where the local story continues in brick and stone.