Rabbit Creek School appears in the National Park Service’s notice of pending National Register nominations published August 14, 2026. The notice identifies the Cotton County property at the intersections of N2540 and E2010 roads near Randlett and assigns it reference number SG100013355; the public-comment deadline was August 31. The school’s addition to the register was subsequently reported by the Journal Record and Texoma’s Homepage.
A record of New Deal-era construction
Rabbit Creek’s significance is tied to its role as a rural two-room schoolhouse built during the Depression. The project was appropriated in 1935 and completed in 1937, employing 26 local workers through the New Deal Federal Relief Program, according to reports by Texoma’s Homepage and the Journal Record.
The project reflects Oklahoma’s broader Depression-era investment in public buildings. The Works Progress Administration constructed 1,010 schools in the state from 1935 through 1943, according to Oklahoma Magazine. A separate account of the program says local public sponsors generally provided 10% to 25% of project costs while federal funds paid workers drawn from relief rolls; it also describes a later survey of WPA structures and the phrase “poor man’s architecture,” according to Oklahoma’s New Deal.
Students and staff at Rabbit Creek
Rabbit Creek opened in 1937 with approximately 29 students. James and Vera Killingsworth taught the first class, while Ella Green served as cook, according to Texoma’s Homepage and the Journal Record. The school closed in 1956, ending its service to rural Cotton County students.
What National Register status provides
National Register listing recognizes a property’s significance in American history but does not by itself prevent changes to or demolition of private property. It can provide limited protections and may make financial incentives available, according to the Journal Record. The Oklahoma Historical Society’s State Historic Preservation Office evaluates properties and submits nominations for consideration.
A small group of rural school candidates
The available research does not establish a statewide count of National Register-listed rural schoolhouses, but an Oklahoma Historical Society and National Park Service-funded survey identified 24 rural schools in southwestern Oklahoma that merited consideration for nomination to the National Register, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Rural Schools of Southwestern Oklahoma survey.
Rabbit Creek also adds to a limited set of documented historic properties in its county. The Oklahoma Historical Society’s encyclopedia, updated February 8, 2024, listed three Cotton County properties on the National Register: the Cotton County Courthouse, First United Methodist Church and Walters Rock Island Depot. The same source reports that the county’s population fell from 16,679 in 1920 to 6,832 in 1970, providing longer-term demographic context for the decline of rural institutions after the school closed.
