DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Now, it starts small — the way the biggest stories usually do. The year is 1915, and Harris County Common School District Number Twenty-Six establishes what they call White Oak Colored School, out in the Acres Homes community.
One room. That's it. One room for a whole community's worth of children and their futures.
The Wright Land Company, which had developed this historically African-American community earlier in that same decade, deeded the land for it — right there at West Montgomery and Willow Streets. One room, on deeded ground, and somebody believed that was enough to start with. By the 1930s, attendance had grown enough that the school was teaching seven grades.
Seven grades, and for a time, grades one through three had to meet over at Greater Zion Baptist Church just to find the space. The community was outgrowing its own walls. Then 1937 rolls around, and the school becomes part of the Aldine School District — now housing seven teachers and more than three hundred pupils.
Three hundred children in a school that started with one room. In 1941, the school moves again, this time to Wheatley Road, and that's when a man named Archie Baldwin Anderson steps into the story. He served as principal from 1941 to 1957, and friend, under his direction, things changed.
The school took the name George Washington Carver School. It received accreditation. It separated into an elementary school and a high school — two institutions where there had once been one room.
The 1950s brought a large number of African Americans migrating into Acres Homes, and that growth led to the construction of a brand new high school building right here at this location, in 1954. The former campus got renamed Carver Elementary, and later — as a tribute to the man who had shaped so much of what the school became — it was dedicated as A.B. Anderson Elementary.
The story doesn't stop there. In 1978, Carver High School became the Aldine Contemporary Education Center, built around an innovative program with flexible hours and voluntary enrollment, designed to attract students who worked or had special interests — students who might not have fit the traditional mold. Then 1994 brings another name change, and eventually the school becomes a magnet school.
And today — today it stands as George Washington Carver High School for Applied Technology, Engineering and the Arts. From one room on deeded land in 1915 to a magnet school for technology, engineering, and the arts. That's not just a school's history.
That's a community refusing, decade after decade, to stop growing.
What the marker says
In 1915, Harris County Common School District #26 established White Oak (Colored) School to serve the Acres Homes Community. The Wright Land Company, which developed this historically African-American community earlier in the decade, deeded land at West Montgomery and Willow Streets for a new one-room school. By the 1930s, as attendance grew, the school taught seven grades, with grades one through three meeting for a time at Greater Zion Baptist Church. In 1937, the school became part of the Aldine School District and house seven teachers and more than 300 pupils. The school moved to Wheatley Road in 1941 and continued to grow under Archie Baldwin Anderson, who served as principal from 1941 to 1957. Under his direction, the school changed its name to George Washington Carver School, received accreditation, and separated into an elementary and high school. In the 1950s, a large number of African Americans migrated into Acres Homes, leading to construction of a new high school building at this location in 1954. The former campus was renamed Carver Elementary and later dedicated as A.B. Anderson Elementary. In 1978, Carver H.S. became Aldine Contemporary Education Center, implementing an innovative program to attract students who were not African American to the campus. The curriculum consisted of flexible hours and voluntary enrollment for students who worked or had special interests. In 1994, the school changed names again before becoming a magnet school. Many graduates have achieved personal and professional success, and today, George Washington Carver High School for Applied Technology, Engineering and the Arts continues to be a notable institution of learning in the community. (2007)