Site of Dunbar High School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Public education for African American students in Mexia, Texas, has a story that stretches back to 1883. That's where it starts, on Herman Street, with a school that set the whole thing in motion.

Now, a fire came along and destroyed that first school, and that could have been the end of it. But the trustees didn't fold. They selected a new site, and in 1915 they put up something to be proud of: a two-story brick schoolhouse, ten large classrooms and an auditorium to fill them.

T.K. Price was principal at the time. The school was named for Paul Lawrence Dunbar, a noted African American author and poet out of Ohio.

Dunbar was born in 1872 and died in 1906, and his name on that building meant something. It was a statement, a declaration that the students walking through those doors were worth the same attention and investment as any others. That two-story brick building carried Dunbar's name and that community's ambitions right up until 1948, when it was razed and replaced with a large one-story school built to meet the moment.

That newer school served until integration in 1968. After that it was used for other classes for a time, before it too was eventually demolished. The building is gone.

But that site in Mexia still stands as an important reminder of what early education looked like here, and of the people who built something out of nothing, twice, and named it after a poet worth remembering.

What the marker says

Public education efforts for African American students in Mexia began in 1883 with a school on Herman Street. After fire destroyed it, trustees selected this site for a two-story brick schoolhouse built in 1915. T.K. Price was principal at the time. The school was named for Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906), a noted African American author and poet from Ohio. The schoolhouse had ten large classrooms and an auditorium. In 1948, it was razed and replaced with a large one-story school that served until integration in 1968. Later used for other classes, the structure was eventually demolished, but the site remains an important reminder of early education in Mexia. (2005)