McKinley Elementary School

McKinley Elementary School is located on the east side of Davenport, Iowa near the McClellan Heights Historic District. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 as a part of the Public Schools for Iowa: Growth and Change MPS.HistoryThe Davenport Board of Education did an evaluation of its elementary school facilities in the 1920s as well as a study of the projected growth of the city and where that growth would take place. The projection was for the number of elementary-aged students to rise by almost three thousand students between 1930 and 1950, but no building plan based on these projections was prepared. The elementary school population, however, already rose to that projection by 1936. The board decided at that time to close twelve of its old elementary school buildings and build six new ones. The plan would cost the school district $2.5 million with the federal government contributing 45% of the costs as part of the Public Works Administration. In addition to McKinley, the new elementary schools included Monroe, Lincoln, Madison, Washington, and Jefferson.The floor plans for all six school buildings was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Smith & Childs, and they are all similar in layout. Local architects were employed to design the stylistic features for each building. The Davenport architectural firm of Kruse & Parrish was chosen for McKinley. The building was constructed by Tunnicliff Construction Co. Ground for the new building was broken in 1939 and classes were begun in 1940. Davenport's population continued to increase after World War II and in 1953 second story classrooms were built on the projecting ends of the building and a two-story addition that included classrooms and a cafeteria in the lower level was added to the northwest corner of the building. Two years later Hoover Elementary School was built to the west to elevate congestion at both McKinley and Lincoln. Enrollment continued to climb during the 1960s and started to decline in the 1970s. The decline has continued into the first decade of the 21st-century.