The City of Caruthersville, Missouri suffered from a major tornado in 2006. Caruthersville High School was among the damaged facilities and was unfit to remain in operation. A2H assessed the damages for the school district and deemed that repairs would be too costly and instead recommended the building be demolished and rebuilt.

After the demolition, A2H managed the architectural and engineering design for a new ground-up high school at the same site. The 70,000-square-foot facility features 21 classrooms, two special education rooms, a gymnasium, library, health clinic, and administrative offices.

Many of the original school’s historic architectural elements were carefully removed and preserved for reuse in the new building, including the stone crest over the front entrance, about 2,000 bricks from the existing facade, and the wooden handrails throughout the school’s stairways.

This $10.3 million project was primarily funded utilizing FEMA disaster recovery funds. A2H assisted Caruthersville in programming a FEMA grant to offset the cost of the project.