Site of Lincoln High School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Palestine, Texas has got layers to it — layers of history that don't always make the main road signs. But if you slow down and look, they're there.

This is one of those stories. It starts in 1891. The first high school for African American students in Palestine opened its doors — not in a grand building, not with fanfare, but in a mission church on San Jacinto Street.

A church. Because that was what was available, and the community made it work. Four years later, the school moved to a new site and took on the name it would carry for generations: Lincoln High School.

And in 1896, the first class graduated from Lincoln. Think about that for a moment. Those students walked in when there was nothing, and they walked out the other side as Lincoln's very first graduates.

That's the kind of thing that echoes. The original schoolhouse was a four-room building. Modest, sure — but enrollment kept climbing, and the building grew with it.

Lincoln was becoming something bigger than just a school. Then came 1922. The Lincoln school building burned.

Just like that, gone. But here's where you learn what a community is made of — classes moved into churches, just like they'd started, and they kept right on going. By 1923, a new six-room brick structure was completed and standing on that site.

They didn't stop. They rebuilt. As rural districts consolidated with Palestine, more and more students came through Lincoln's doors, and the school became something the marker calls an important cultural center for the African American community.

It wasn't just where you went to learn to read — it was the heartbeat of a community. By 1952, the school board approved construction of a new high school, and they named it in honor of Alonzo Marion Story, Lincoln's principal from 1925 to 1949. That's twenty-four years at the helm of that place.

When a community names a school after you, you've left a mark that outlasts the bricks. In the fall of 1953, the building that had housed the high school reopened as Lincoln Junior High. It served grades five through eight, and later shifted to grades two through eight — always adapting, always serving.

Until 1965, when the Palestine schools integrated, and the building's run as a school came to a close. But even then, it didn't sit empty and forgotten. After 1965, the Lincoln school building stayed in use as an important social center and as headquarters for the Anderson County Community Council.

It kept serving. That building had been a church school, a high school, a junior high, and a community anchor — all on the same ground. Then in 1996, a fire.

And this time, there was no rebuilding. The fire resulted in the building's demolition. But the site remains.

And the marker says it plainly: this place is a significant part of the educational and community heritage of Palestine and Anderson County. From a mission church in 1891 to a brick schoolhouse that stood through decades of growth and change — Lincoln did its work, and the ground it stood on still holds the story.

What the marker says

In 1891, the first high school for African American students in Palestine opened in the mission church on San Jacinto Street. Four years later, the school moved to this site and became known as Lincoln High School. The first class graduated from Lincoln in 1896. Originally a four-room building, the schoolhouse was expanded over time to accommodate increasing enrollment. In 1922, the Lincoln school building burned, and classes were held in several churches until the new, six-room brick structure was completed in 1923. As rural districts consolidated with Palestine, enrollment at Lincoln continued to increase, and the school became an important cultural center for the African American community. In 1952, the school board approved construction of a new high school to be named in honor of Alonzo Marion Story, Lincoln's principal from 1925 to 1949. The building that had formerly housed the high school reopened as Lincoln Junior High in the fall of 1953. Serving grades five through eight, it later housed grades two through eight before closing in 1965 when the Palestine schools integrated. After 1965, the Lincoln school building remained in use as an important social center and as headquarters for the Anderson County Community Council. A 1996 fire resulted in its demolition, but this site remains a significant part of the educational and community heritage of Palestine and Anderson County. (2002)