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Mabel Fincher School (currently Triumph High School) is eligible to the National Register of Historic Places Under Criteria A and C. It is eligible under Criterion A, because it reflects the primary importance the Cheyenne community attached to the education of its youth from its inception as a railroad town in 1867. Schools represented the widespread belief in the value of universal education. Education was one of the first critical issues dealt with by Cheyenne’s first citizens and by the first Wyoming territorial legislature. The formation of school districts and the building of schools reflected how Cheyenne’s citizens felt about the permanency of their community and their faith in its future. Mabel Fincher School, constructed in 1940, is a substantial brick masonry structure built with community pride and permanency in mind, and which incorporates the standard designs advocated by the early twentieth century educational reformers. This school was also used for public assemblies and civic celebrations, a place for the community to come together. It has continuously served as an educational facility for the children of Cheyenne to the present.
The building is also eligible under Criterion C, because it is the only historic school in Cheyenne that fully represents the Art Deco style of architecture popular in America in the 1930s and 1940s. Two other schools, Corlett (1940) and Doming Elementary (1945), represent a combination of styles with limited Art Deco elements. Of special note is the use of bands of glazed brick in a wide range of colors and patterns in the facade, and the ornate terra cotta floral design used above the entrance. These economical decorative devices consisting of low relief geometrical designs and polychromatic materials represent classic Art Deco ornamentation and lend this school its unique and distinctive appearance.
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