DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to pass it on straight. Now, at the turn of the twentieth century, Silsbee was humming. The railroad connecting Silsbee and Beaumont had turned this corner of Hardin County into a busy mill town, and the work that came with it drew both white and black settlers looking to make a life.
But work alone doesn't build a community — education does. And so, not long after that railroad changed everything, a school dedicated to the education of African American students began to take shape, organized by two reverends: J.R. Dunbar and W.H.
Jermany. Those two men set something in motion that would last for generations. The man whose name would come to define the school was Professor Waldo Mathews.
He served as principal for more than fifteen years, and during that time he watched the school grow from two teachers all the way to a staff of eight. That's not just growth — that's a community deciding that its children were worth the investment. Then in 1921, Mr.
J.C. Frazier of Newton County was hired as principal, and he stayed for twenty-eight years. Twenty-eight years.
That kind of steady hand tends to leave a mark. And the community kept building. In 1922, a six-room building and workshop went up, constructed with help from the Julius Rosenwald fund, replacing the old facilities with something more fitting.
Then came the moment on May 1, 1939, when the county school board stated that Waldo Mathews — listed officially as Silsbee Colored — had achieved eleventh-grade classification. It was the only African American school in Hardin County to hold that distinction. With Professor C.A.
Johns leading as principal, Waldo Mathews developed into one of the best educational systems in the area. That's not my words — that's what the record says. By 1967, all of the schools of the Silsbee Independent School District had fully and voluntarily integrated, with no incidents.
In a time and a region where that sentence could've read very differently, those last three words carry weight worth sitting with. But then comes January 9, 1970. A fire destroyed Waldo Mathews High School.
After that, the outer buildings — the elementary school, the cafeteria, the field house — were demolished. What was left were the foundations, and those foundations, they can still be seen today. There's something about that.
A school that shaped generations of students in Hardin County, and the ground itself won't quite let you forget it was there. In 2003, Texas Parks and Wildlife approved a grant petitioned by the city of Silsbee, and a park named Waldo Mathews City Park was built in honor of the school. A large pavilion now stands right where the high school once stood.
So if you find yourself in Silsbee and you walk under that pavilion, you're standing on the same ground where Reverends Dunbar and Jermany started something, where Professor Mathews watched eight teachers do what two once handled alone, and where a community built itself up, brick by six-room brick. The school is gone. The ground remembers.
What the marker says
At the turn of the 20th century, Silsbee became a very busy mill town due to the success of the railroad connecting Silsbee and Beaumont. Many jobs were provided for both white and black settlers. A school dedicated to the education of African American students quickly developed, organized by the reverends J.R. Dunbar and W.H. Jermany. Professor Waldo Mathews, who served as principal for more than 15 years, watched the school grow from two teachers to a staff of eight. In 1921, Mr. J.C. Frazier of Newton County was hired and served as principal for 28 years. In 1922, a six-room building and workshop was built utilizing the Julius Rosenwald fund to replace the old facilities. On May 1, 1939, the county school board stated that Waldo Mathews (Silsbee Colored) was given eleventh-grade classification - the only African American School in Hardin County listed. With Professor C.A. Johns as prinicipal, Waldo Mathews developed into one of the best educational systems in the area. By 1967, all of the schools of the Silsbee Independent School District had fully and voluntarily integrated with no incidents. Waldo Mathews High School was destroyed by a fire on January 9, 1970. The outer buildings, elementary school, cafeteria and field house were then demolished, leaving the foundations which can still be seen today. In 2003, Texas parks and wildlife approved a grant petitioned by the city of Silsbee for the construction of a park named Waldo Mathews city park in honor of Waldo Mathews high school. A large pavilion stands where the high school once stood.