In their book, HOW WE LIVED: Little Rock As An American City, F. Hampton Roy, Sr., and Charles Witsell, Jr., present a pictorial history of early public schools in Little Rock, on pages 162, 163 and 190.
The following information is quoted from captions:
“Sherman School was one of the first public schools in Little Rock after the Civil War.
Like the others, it was a small, unassuming building which was functional but
not at all stylish. Located on the block bounded by Seventh, Eighth, Sherman,
and Ferry Streets, it was Little Rock’s high school until about 1885. It then served
as a grammar school until being replaced in the 1890s by Fred Kramer School which
still stands” (ed. 1984).
“Scott Street School (ed. gone), built in the early 1880s, demonstrates the beginning of
the trend toward more imposing buildings. It was followed about 1886 by Fort
Steele School, which had the entrance tower that became ubiquitous of public
buildings in the late 1880s and 1890s. More elaborate variations on the
entrance tower theme were displayed by three school buildings constructed in Little
Rock from about 1890 to 1895: Peabody High School, Twenty-First Street
School, and Fred Kramer School. Twenty-First Street School, a grammar
school for black students, is especially notable for having been designed by Charles
L. Thompson. Fred Kramer School is distinctive because its design featured
characteristics of the Richardson Romanesque style of architecture - and also
because it is the only nineteenth-century school building still standing in Little
Rock.” (ed. 1984)
“Scott Street School, built in circa 1883 (was) at the southeast corner of Fourteenth
and Scott Streets.” (ed. Subsequently the location of the later known East Side
Junior High School, but prior to that it was known as City High School.)
“Fort Steele School, (was) built circa 1886 on the west side of State Street between
Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets.” (ed. gone 1984)
“Peabody High School, (was) built circa 1890 on the north side of Fifth Street between
State and Gaines Streets”. (ed. gone 1984)
Little Rock Central High School. “Designed by an association of five local
architects, Little Rock Central High School (originally Little Rock High School) opened
in the fall of 1927, when it was hailed as “The Most Beautiful High School Building in
America”. Constructed at a cost of $1,500,000, the imposing building was
designed to accommodate 3,000 students. The architectural significance of the
building, however, has been overshadowed by the historic events of the 1957-58
school year, when Central High School became the scene of the first important test of
the U. S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education (the ruling which held
racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional). Largely on the basis
of the events surrounding the admission of the first eight black students to Central High
School, the school has been designated Little Rock’s only National Historic
Landmark.”
In their book Greater Little Rock, Jim Lester and Judy Lester, have included on page
108 an item related to Little Rock Central High School, as follows:
“Little Rock’s largest park in the late nineteenth century was West End Park, covering
a six-block area between Fourteenth Street, Sixteenth Street, Park Avenue, and Jones
Street. The park featured a large pavilion and a bicycle track. According
to James Bell in an article in the Pulaski County Historical Review, by the turn of the
century baseball became the main attraction at the park. Later called
Kavanaugh Athletic Field, the baseball field in the park was used by the Little Rock
Baseball Association until 1932 when the forerunner of Ray Winder Field opened at
Fair Park. The site of West End Park eventually became the home of Little
Rock Central High School.”
Further in the Lesters book, on page 119, under a picture of the graduating class of
1898, is the following: “When Sherman High School closed in 1885, students
attended City High School at Fourteenth and Scott Streets. Five years later,
the school moved to West Capital and Gaines and was renamed Peabody High
School in honor of philanthropist George Peabody, who donated $2 million to promote
education in the South. Little Rock received $200,000. from Peabody, the
largest sum given to any southern city.”
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This information has been compiled for REUNION 2000, LRHS BAND ALUMNI, to be
held in Little Rock, Friday, September 29 - October 1, 2000