- City:
- Abilene, TX
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Schools
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1935
- Completed:
- 1937
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The first public school for African Americans in Abilene was established in 1890. Located in the 200 block of Plum Street, the one-room school was named the Abilene Colored School. Its first class consisted of 22 students and one teacher.
In 1902 the school moved to a one-room structure built at N. 7th and Magnolia, and had two teachers serving 84 students. The Colored School held its first graduation in 1923 at the Macedonia Baptist Church for one student.
A five-room school was constructed at 541 N. 8th Street in 1929. That year the student body consisted of 217 pupils. The building was later used for the Americanization School for Abilene’s Hispanic Youth, and as a community recreation center.
A 10-room brick school was erected in 1936 here on a campus of more than 6 acres. A 4-room expansion was added in 1941. By 1951 the school became Carter G. Woodson School. In 1953 it became Woodson Elementary School with the opening of the Carter G. Woodson Junior-Senior High School at 342 N. Cockrell Street. It was closed in 1968 when the Abilene School District became integrated. The structures continue to serve the Abilene community for various educational purposes.
Source notes
Texas Historical Marker No. 71
Site originally submitted by Douglass Halvorsen on February 14, 2018.
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