DUANE
Duane's take
This one comes straight off the official marker, and it's a story worth every mile of road that led us here. The marker reads: Booker T. Washington School, Texas City, Galveston County.
Public education for African American students in Texas City began in 1915. That's where this story starts — not with a building, not with a campus, but with a teacher. The Texas City Independent School District hired Mrs.
J.R. McKellar, and she showed up ready to work. The only catch?
There was no schoolhouse waiting for her. Classes were held in churches and lodge halls — wherever the community could find a room and make it work. That went on for more than two decades.
Then, in 1937, the district purchased this very property and moved a one-story wooden building to the site. A start, sure. But here's the thing — for many years, that school only offered instruction through grade seven.
Seven grades. Which meant that when those students were ready to go further, they had to travel to Galveston to complete their education. Let that sit for a moment.
Just to finish school, they had to leave town. That changed, slowly, the way most things change when people refuse to give up on something. A brick schoolhouse was constructed here in 1946 and 1947 — real, solid, brick — housing grades one through ten.
That was progress. And then in 1953, a high school building was added to the campus. For the first time, African American students could at last complete their high school education right there in Texas City.
Right there. No more trips to Galveston just to earn a diploma. Along the way, the school built something beyond classrooms.
Extracurricular activities — athletic programs, music programs — those were important parts of student life. The kind of thing that sticks with a person long after the final bell rings. In 1969, with the full integration of Texas City public schools, Booker T.
Washington School closed. But the campus didn't go quiet. It kept servin' the community in ways you might not expect.
The College of the Mainland used it in its initial years, from 1967 to 1971. Project Head Start ran programs there from 1974 to 1989. And the Calvin Vincent Learning Center called it home starting in 1996.
This place has never really stopped teaching. It's worn different names and served different purposes across the decades, but the ground itself has a kind of memory. What happened here — the determination it took, the distance those students traveled just to learn, the brick walls that finally said you don't have to go anywhere else — that's a significant part of Texas City's twentieth-century story.
And now you know it too.
What the marker says
Public education for African American students in Texas City began in 1915. The Texas City Independent School District hired Mrs. J.R. McKellar to teach the students; classes were held in churches and lodge halls until 1937, when the district purchased this property and moved a one-story wooden building to the site. For many years, Booker T. Washington School offered instruction only through grade seven, so students traveled to Galveston to complete their education. A brick schoolhouse constructed here in 1946-47 housed grades one through ten. In 1953, a high school building was added to the campus, and African American students could at last complete their high school education in Texas City. Extracurricular activities, including athletic and music programs, were important parts of student life. With the full integration of Texas City public schools in 1969, Booker T. Washington closed. It remains, however, a significant part of Texas City's 20th-century social and educational history. The campus has continued in use for a variety of community purposes, including facilities for The College of the Mainland in its initial years (1967-71), for Project Head Start (1974-89) and for the Calvin Vincent Learning Center (1996). (1997)