History

G. L. Hawkins Elementary School (formerly Junior High), Built in 1951.
Named for prominent Hattiesburg businessman George L. Hawkins who donated the land for the school. He was the first president of the First National Bank of Hattiesburg which became First Mississippi National Bank and is currently Bancorp South. The school’s unique architecture by Noah Webster Overstreet, the first native architect born near Hattiesburg, incorporated poured-in-place concrete, introduced in the early 1900s. The building, designed in the shape of a space ship, featured a mushroom cloud column in the middle of the rotunda entrance. It is currently an elementary school grades Pre-K – 5.