In the fall of 1924, fresh out of training, Gazelle Clark arrived in Mathews County to teach elementary grades at New Point High School. Gazelle, a native of Lancaster County, completed Syringa High School in Middlesex, then took the two-year course at State Teachers College at Fredericksburg (now the University of Mary Washington).
Gazelle taught at least one year at New Point, which happened to be an eventful year in that community. Even as classes were underway, local contractor J. Eddie Callis was building a large addition which included a new auditorium and classrooms; conversion of the original auditorium into classrooms; an electric lighting system and central heating. The work also added a second tower to the formerly one-tower frame building.
May Day in 1925 was the occasion to lay the cornerstone and dedicate the addition, and the young teacher snapped what must have been one of the first photos of the enlarged facility.
A few details about the project appear in Mathews Journ...