DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, and this one deserves every word it gets. Let me take you back to 1921, in the Baytown area of Harris County, when the first public school for African American children of this whole region opened its doors. They called it Goose Creek School for Coloreds — a grade school, plain and simple, but a lifeline for families in Baytown, La Porte, Cedar Bayou, and McNair.
When there wasn't a proper building, classes were held in Mt. Rose Baptist Church, because the education was going to happen one way or another. The school's first principal was Anna B.
Edwards, drawing ninety dollars a month. Now, a frame school building went up at the northwest corner of Carver Street and Oak Street — what's now Martin Luther King Drive — and it opened in the fall of 1924. Three years on, a brick addition in 1927 pushed the school all the way up to the ninth grade.
They were building something, piece by piece. By June of 1940, the school had earned a new name — changed to honor the scientist, educator, inventor, and botanist George Washington Carver. And the very next year, 1941, it was accredited as a four-year high school.
That's a full education now. That's a diploma. In 1948, a larger, modern campus opened four blocks east, at Carver Street and Lee Drive, and the old building settled into life as an elementary school.
The new Carver High School went on to become something the whole community could point to with pride. Consistently ranked among the top segregated schools in the state of Texas. Students excelled in academics and in athletics alike.
Nine state band competitions won. Eight state sports championships, all in the Prairie View Interscholastic League. You don't run up numbers like that by accident.
In forty-six years, that school had just five principals. Five. Ernest A.
Archia, William M. Davis, Clyde J. Messiah, Edward F.
Green, and George Perkins. Five people who held the whole thing together across nearly half a century. And then — as a result of desegregation — the high school closed after the 1966 to 1967 school year.
Carver Elementary moved to that site in 1967 and held on until 1995, when a former oil storage pit was discovered on the property. The buildings were demolished in 2002. A new Carver Elementary was dedicated at a nearby site.
Goose Creek School for Coloreds. Carver High School. Carver Elementary.
Different names, different buildings, different generations of children walking through the doors. But the marker puts it plainly: Carver School, which originally laid the educational foundation for area black children, continues to educate the Baytown community. Some foundations hold longer than any building ever could.
What the marker says
The first public school for African American children of this area was Goose Creek School for Coloreds. Founded in 1921 as a grade school, it served the children of the Baytown area, as well as those in La Porte, Cedar Bayou, and McNair. Classes were also held in Mt. Rose Baptist Church. The school’s first principal, Anna B. Edwards, was paid $90 per month. A frame school building constructed at the northwest corner of Carver St. and Oak St. (now Martin Luther King Dr.) Opened in the fall of 1924; a brick addition in 1927 expanded it to the ninth grade. The school’s name was changed to honor scientist, educator, inventor and botanist George Washington Carver by June 1940, and it was accredited as a four-year high school in 1941. In 1948, a larger, modern campus was opened four blocks east at Carver St. and Lee Dr., and the old building became an elementary school. Carver High was consistently ranked as one of the top segregated schools in the state, and students excelled in both academics and athletics. Carver won nine state band competitions and eight state sports championships in the Prairie View Interscholastic League. There were just five principals in 46 years: Ernest A. Archia, William M. Davis, Clyde J. Messiah, Edward F. Green and George Perkins. The high school closed after the 1966-1967 school year as a result of desegregation. Carver Elementary School was then located here from 1967 until 1995, when a former oil storage pit was discovered on the property. The buildings were demolished in 2002 and a new Carver Elementary was dedicated at a nearby site. Carver School, which originally laid the educational foundation for area black children, continues to educate the Baytown community.