This photograph shows Booker T. Washington School as it looked in 1904, six years after it was built at Eleventh and Vaught.

The school provided for the education of Mt. Vernon's black students at a time when public schools were segregated.

The curriculum at Washington school was similar to that of other area schools.

The Sentinel
February 20, 2006
By Dede Heider Haselton
Sentinel News Staff

Washington among early city schools

In Mt. Vernon's early days, segregation kept most black students out of the public schools, but that did not keep black families from seeking an education for their children.

The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church on Grand Avenue became the home of Mt. Vernon's  first school for black children in 1894, with A. Y. King as the teacher, according to local historian Tom Puckett.

Two years after it's beginnings, the school moved from the church to a building on Twelfth and Vaught, and then moved again two years later.

A two-room school was built at Eleventh and Vaught, and classes began in 1898, Puckett said. The school was named Booker T. Washington School in honor of the founder and president of Tuskegee Institute.

King, who had been with the school from the beginning, became the principal and held that position until his retirement in 1907, according to the book, "A History of Education in Jefferson County." A man by the name of Major Singleton was chosen to be the next principal, although he had not even applied for the position, the book states.

School enrollment grew continually, until by 1909, the 103 students could barely fit in the two-room schoolhouse. Singleton convinced the public of the need for more room and more teachers. The school board began taking bids in 1914 to build two additional classrooms and a basement onto the existing building. When the project was complete, two more teachers were hired. The enrollment by that time had grown to 125 students, Puckett said.

The the depression hit. In 1929, Washington School lost one of it's four teachers and struggled to keep going, Puckett said.

Singleton retired in 1935 after 28 years as principal, according to the history of education book. The book states, "It can well be said of him that he worked not alone for salary but love for his work and a desire to be of benefit to his pupils, his race and the community in general."

In September 1935, Odie L. Farris Sr. became the third principal of Washington Grade School, according to that same book and his grandson, Odie Farris III.

The younger Farris said that after the Civil War, his grandfather's family moved from North Carolina to Missouri. The family got permission from the city to build a school for black children there, and the senior Odie Farris attended his father's school before going to Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. Upon completion of college, Farris taught school in Sparta, Ill., then moved to Mt. Vernon."Education was always important for Farris children," Farris III said.

In 1937, Casey Junior High was built, and the seventh and eighth-grade students from Washington School began attending school there. With J.L. Buford as superintendent of schools, the practice of segregation was stopped, according to the history of education book.

Additionally, students at Washington School were allowed, for the first time, to take part in athletic competitions. The students who were interested in playing basketball. were so excited at the prospect that they found someone with seven uniforms to sell and they used their own money to purchase them. The book states that at that point, "Washington played and won the first grade school basketball tournament in the history of the school."

The school continued to grow and in the late 1940s, major improvements were made to the building, with new floors, foundation work, fluorescent lights, exterior step improvement, the installation of new doors and some interior decorating, the history of education book states.

Farris III said that he began attending the school in 1948. He said the school had a family atmosphere. "It was similar to home schooling " Farris said "Because nobody was a stranger." He said that all the students lived in the same area. The same kids that attended school together, played on the playground together; they played after school and they played on the weekends.

There was a familiarity and closeness with the teachers, too. "No teacher was a stranger to any of us," he said. "She new you, your brother, your father, your grandfather." And if there was a problem with a child's behavior, the teacher and all the families the children had to pass by on the way home from school knew who to talk to.

Being the grandson of the principal was especially tough, he teased, because his grandfather would correct him at school and then his parents would correct him again at home. Even the janitor was like family and was well-respected by all the children. "Mr. Grooms was a big man and he was a good man," Farris said.

Washington school closed in 1961, when the students were integrated into the other public schools. Farris spoke fondly of his years attending Washington School. He said there was just something magical that you don't find in schools today. "There was some kind of love," he said.

Sentinel Photo/Dede Heider Haselton
School No More -- Today the building that was once Washington School looks similar to how it looked in 1962, when the school's doors closed for the final time. Odie Farris III, who attended the school from 1948-1954, said that the rooms inside are still identifiable as the gym, principal's office and six classrooms.

OLD MT.V SCHOOL A WHITE ELEPHANT

Mt. Vernon Register News March 12, 1974
By STEVE KORRIS,
Register-News Staff Writer

Symbol of Racial Separatism For Years

The Booker T, Washington School, the symbol of racial , separatism in Mt. Vernon for many years and a White elephant for the past 12 years will be sold tomorrow, and will apparently serve as a recreational center. The bullding lay dormant from 1962 to 1965, was used by fhe Mt, Vernon YMCA from 1965 to 1970, then went back into mothballs. The passage of time makes it difficult to imagine that only a dozen years ago, this community supported an all black school. Just as difficult to imagine is that Mt. Vernon was attacked twice by the NAACP, once in 1957 and again in in 1962, for maintaining what the NAACP felt s was a segregated system. By the late 50's, however, a the Disrict 80 grade school board had told parents of black children fhat they could choose whether to send them to Washington School or to the school located in their neighborhood. And by l962, when the NAACP made, It's second criticism of Mt. Vernon, the closing of Washington School had already been announced. On Jan. 10th of that year, the District 80 board announced that the school would be closed at the end of the school year. The board acted on a recommendation by a committee which had been appointed in 1961 by Board President Fletcher Farrar. The decision to let parents choose between Washington and the other city schools might have forestalled criticism of the school system, but it also had a drastic effect on enrollment at Washington School. In 1955, enrollment at Washington School peaked at 73 students, all black, But each succeeding year saw more black youngsters switching to Edison, Mann, Hall, and Lincoln schools. The last year fhat Washington School was open, 1961-62, fhere were just 74 in students enrolled.

After the closing of the school, board members and the general public began kicking around ideas for a way to use the building. In 1963, City manager Chester Lewis suggested it be used for recreational purposes, perhaps as a YMCA facility. However, when the building was put up for sale on June 5, 1963, no one stepped forward to purchase it. The school board maintained ownership and in 1965, leased the building to the Mt. Vernon YMCA, bringing Lewis's idea into reality. In 1970, the school board decided to sell the school building. An auction was held Aug. 2, 1970, and the minimum bid was set at $90,000. Nobody wanted it at that price, and the auction failed. Tomorrow, the minimum bid will be announced at $30,000. The Mt. Vernon YMCA, four years after it left the building, wants to reinter it now, but as owner this time. The "Y" has submitted an irrevocable offer to bid $30,000. That figure appears a bit ironic in the light of the cost of past construction at the Washington School. In the late 40's and early 50's, when Mt. Vernon poured some $2,000,000 into renovating its entire school system, some $150,000 worth of repairs and additions were made at the school.

Submitted By: Cindy Ford