Click image to enlarge. For former students, Dothan’s old Howell School evokes sentimental memories of childhood and days gone by. But it is also an architectural landmark—an eclectic mixture of arched windows and ornate classical cornices dating from 1902. The city’s main grammar school until 1942, the building later reopened as a pajama manufacturing company. Now vacant, it is owned by the Downtown Dothan Redevelopment Authority.
The first public grammar school in Dothan was built in 1889, but it later burned. The Howell School, named for a prominent local educator, was designed by J. W. Baughman, who topped the building with a central tower—later removed—complete with a spiral fire escape slide. A developer’s recent proposal to convert the old school into low-income senior housing raises new hope. But the substantial funding needed has yet to be put in place, and uncertainty hangs over the Howell School’s future.
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