Sunshine Elementary

Founded as a one-room wooden schoolhouse near the end of the Civil War, Sunshine Elementary evolved into a demonstration school for Southwest Missouri State Teacher’s College, a four-room brick building in the 1930s, and a 10-room school in the 1950s. A library with technology updates was added in the early 1990s.

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In 2020, hdesigngroup helped with renovations that doubled the building’s size to 58,800 square feet. It now seats 350 students, with 15 K-5 classrooms, five special education/title classrooms, a host of collaboration and learning spaces, and a new storm shelter gymnasium. The new design retained many features, such as existing classroom wings that are now bookended by the art room and cafeteria to create a new courtyard.

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The restoration modernized the facility, yet showed respect for the school’s history: refinishing vintage hardwood floors, choosing new windows that mimic the old, salvaging and restoring the main entry’s hardware for reuse, and replacing a dilapidated cupola with a much sturdier, finely detailed replica.