Oak Lawn School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Oak Lawn School. Now, every great institution has to start somewhere, and Oak Lawn started small: an elementary school for Black children, opened in 1887 on North Aiken Street in Ellis County. That's your beginning.

Modest, maybe, but it was a beginning that mattered. Six years later, in 1893, the school picked up and moved to a new site; the very ground that marker stands on today. And Oak Lawn didn't stay modest for long.

Before the 19th century had even finished running its course, high school classes had been added to the curriculum. An elementary school that grew tall enough to send young men and women out into the world with a full education. And here's where the story gets something close to poetic.

Two of the very first graduates of that high school program (Prince Goldthwaite and Robert Davis) they didn't just leave and move on. They came back. Both of them became principals of Oak Lawn High School.

The school shaped them, and they turned around and shaped the school right back. The 20th century brought growth; tremendous growth, the marker says, and it means it. Oak Lawn swelled until one building simply couldn't hold everything anymore.

So in 1952, the elementary school and the high school were separated, given room to breathe. The building at this site carried on serving grades one through seven, doing its quiet, faithful work. Until 1970.

That's when the doors closed permanently. Eighty-three years from that first classroom on North Aiken Street to a locked door. Generations of children who walked in not knowing what they were capable of, and walked out knowing exactly.

That's Oak Lawn School.

What the marker says

Oak Lawn began as an elementary school for Blacks in 1887 on North Aiken Street. In 1893 the school moved to this site. By the end of the 19th Century, High School classes had been added to the curriculum. Two of the first graduates, Prince Goldthwaite and Robert Davis, later became Oak Lawn High School Principals. Oak Lawn experienced tremendous growth during the 20th century, so the elementary and high schools were separated in 1952. The building at this site continued to serve grades one through seven until the school was closed permanently in 1970.