DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Robertson Hill School. That's where this story begins — the first high school for Black students in Austin, opening its doors in 1884 at the corner of Eleventh and San Marcos streets.
Think about what that meant in 1884. A school. A real high school.
Right there. But one address was never going to hold this story. In 1907, the school picked up and moved to the corner of Olive and Curve Streets, and it got a new name to go with the new address — E.
H. Anderson High School. Then 1913 rolls around and it moves again, this time to 1607 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Twenty-five years later, in 1938, the school was renamed once more — this time in honor of a former principal, L. C. Anderson.
A name earned, not just borrowed. And still it kept moving. 1953, the school relocated to 900 Thompson Street. Then 1973, a fifth location — 8403 Mesa.
Five addresses across nearly a century. Five times Austin's Black community packed up a school and kept it alive. Now, while Anderson was making all those moves, something else was taking root right here on this site.
Kealing Junior High School opened in 1930 — the first junior high school for Black students in the city of Austin. It was named for an educator named Hightower Theodore Kealing, born in 1859, gone in 1918, a man who never got to see this school bear his name. That first enrollment: three hundred and thirty-seven students walking through the doors.
And when reenrollment increased — and it did increase — Kealing expanded in 1954 into the former Anderson High School building right next door. Two buildings, two histories, side by side. They called them East Kealing and West Kealing, and in 1962 the two buildings were joined together.
Then came 1971, and a court order. Court-ordered desegregation closed Kealing's doors. Just like that, the school was shut.
What happened next is the kind of ending that settles heavy. The original Kealing Junior High School building was razed in 1983. And the old Anderson High School on this site burned in 1984.
Two buildings. Gone within a year of each other. All those graduations, all those first days of school, all that history — reduced to an empty lot.
But here's the thing about a community that moved a high school five times and never stopped showing up: they built again. A new Kealing Junior High was built and opened in 1986. Same site.
New walls. The name still standing. Some stories don't end.
They just keep finding new addresses.
What the marker says
Robertson Hill School, the first high school for blacks in Austin, opened on the corner of Eleventh and San Marcos streets in 1884. In 1907 the school moved to the corner of Olive and Curve Streets and was renamed E. H. Anderson High School. In 1913 the school was moved to 1607 Pennsylvania Avenue. It was renamed in honor of former Principal L. C. Anderson in 1938. In 1953 the school relocated to 900 Thompson Street. Anderson High School opened in its fifth location, 8403 Mesa, in 1973. Kealing Junior High School was opened in 1930 on this site. Named for educator Hightower Theodore Kealing (1859-1918), it was the first junior high school for blacks in the city, and had an initial enrollment of 337. When reenrollment increased, the school expanded into the former Anderson High School in 1954. The two buildings, known as East Kealing and West Kealing, were joined in 1962. The school was closed in 1971 due to court-ordered desegregation. The original Kealing Junior High School building was razed in 1983, amd the old Anderson High School on this site burned in 1984. A new Kealing Junior High was built and opened in 1986. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986