The WPA Builds: The Stone Voting Houses of Rowan County, Kentucky

I voted early this year, in a large, cavernous space that bore no resemblance to precinct voting as I used to know it. For several years, I worked the polls in Lexington, supplementing the meager salary I received as a state employee with a long, long day in a historic firehouse or a local school. It was fun to greet neighbors and help people exercise this amazing privilege we have as Americans. I often remind the minions that my paternal grandmother, a fiercely intelligent woman, was born prior to the passage of the 19th Amendment (and I deeply regret never being able to talk with her about this).  But even my memories of eclectic polling places (a former tobacco warehouse, an old country store) pale next to the rich history of the early 20th century voting houses of Rowan County, Kentucky.

The Haldeman Voting House No. 8 in Rowan County, Kentucky. Photograph by Christa Smith, 1998, NRHP files.

In 1935, Rowan County Judge Executive Charles E. Jennings requested over $400,000 for Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects in the county. This wish list included the construction of five farm to market roads, three public schools, and 17 voting houses.

Undated photo of WPA workers in Rowan County using a portable stone crusher. Box 27, item 4234, Goodman-Paxton Collection at the University of Kentucky.

Voting in those days was tough for most people in Rowan County, unless they lived in downtown Morehead. Many precincts did not have a place to cast your ballot, and residents had to travel (over bad roads) to the county seat to vote at the Courthouse. If they did live in an area with a dedicated polling place, it was generally in a small, cramped one-room schoolhouse or outbuilding – and voting the secret ballot would have been near impossible.

The construction of these stone voting houses, scattered across the county, ushered in a modern era of voting.

Circa 1930s photograph of a WPA voting house in Rowan County. Box 27, item 4231, Goodman-Paxton Collection at the University of Kentucky.

I’m a big fan of the WPA and its impact on Kentucky during a hard, hard time in many people’s lives. (There are several posts on this blog about other WPA projects.) By 1939, over three-quarters of all Rowan County men had “received subsistence employment under the WPA. Without such aid there would have been starvation.”*

Building these stone voting houses, each designed to measure 12′ by 24 ‘, allowed 306 men in Rowan County to work and be paid for their labor.

Cranston Voting House No. 12, Rowan County, Kentucky. Photograph by Christa Smith, 1998, NRHP files.

In the mid-1990s, Lynn David and Christa Smith at Morehead State University (MSU), undertook a survey of the remaining voting houses in Rowan County. Of the 17 stone buildings constructed, only 12 remained at at that time and only 10 were ultimately listed in the NRHP:

Brushy Voting House No. 6

Cranston Voting House No. 12

Farmers Voting House No. 2

Haldeman Voting House No. 16

Hayes Voting House No. 16

Hogtown Voting House No. 4

Morehead Voting House No. 10

Morehead Voting House No. 7

Pine Grove Voting House No. 5

Plank Voting House No. 15

Morehead Voting House No. 10. Photograph by Christa Smith, 1998, NRHP files.

During the Pandemic, I made a list of the voting houses, with plans to scout them out during the winter, once the camouflage of tree leaves and vegetation vanished. My intentions were noble, but I’ve yet to make the trek to see if any of the 10 voting houses are still standing. It would be a great project for someone to undertake, and I am grateful to the folks at MSU who documented these vestiges of a turbulent time in American history.

There are very few now who remember the days of deprivation and the relief that the WPA brought to a community. I think election day is a good day to contemplate these historical facts.

*Christa Smith and Lynn David, Rowan County, Kentucky WPA Stone Voting Houses. Multiple Property Listing, National Register of Historic Places. Listed 1997, Section E, page 2.

The 10 individuals nominations were listed in 1998.