Garnet High School - West Virginia Division of Culture and History

-=================================NPS Form 10-900(Rev. 8-86)OMB No. 1024-0018United States ~e~artment of the Interior ~ational Park serviceNATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM---- ---------------------===_-_--=-~====-------- ------------I. Name of Property- ----======-====-==-=-- ---------------------historic name: Garnet Hiqh School-----------other name/site number: Garnet Career Center: Garnet Adult ducati ionCenter2. Location-------------..---------------------------------------------------__.____--_-_-_-----_-----_----------------------------street & number: 422 Dickinson Streetcity/town: Charlestonnot for publication: N/Avicinity: N/Astate: county: Kanawha code: 039 zip code: 25301-----------------I-----Ownership of Property: P~blicCategory of Property: ~uildinaNumber of Resources within Property:Contributingorc contributing-- Ibuildings- sitesstructures- - objects1- 0 TotalNumber of contributing resources previously listed in the ~ationalIiegister: N/AName of related multiple property listing: N/A

United States Department of the InterforNational Park ServiceNational Register oi Historic PlacesContinuation Sheet .Section number Page 2Well preserved interior components include the intact buildingplan, spaces, architectural features, and various finishes and materials.Garnet's lobby, auditorium, and gym, opening off the main entrance,present excellent ornamental plaster mouldings, millwork, and woodfloors.. Hallway floors are covered with terrazo.The central spaces within the building are dominated on floors oneand two by the auditorium and gym. Hallways and classrooms are found onthe perimeters. The principalls office and library on the second floor,and book store with "Dutch door," are intact. Classrooms throughoutfeature original blackboards, baseboards, hardwood floors, oak trim, andpaneled wood doors. ~xtending the building to the south is the lateraddition containing an auto shop and classrooms.

United States DepartmentNational Park Serviceof the InteriorNational Register of Historic PlacesContinuation SheetSection number Page 2Despite this and other hardships, which weren't necessarilyrecognized at the time, the students and teachers were for the most partone big happy family. This is evident by the number of former Black HighSchool Reunions that take place now throughout the state. This leads toanother point-the friendship and enjoyment of the competition among theschools. Football and basketball games, tournaments, commercialcontests, track meets, play (drama) tournaments, marching bands-all alongwith academia, contributing to the development of a well rounded student.Our rivals, Douglass (Huntington), Simmons (Montgomery), Washington(London), State Hi (Institute), Kelly Miller (Clarksburg), Sumner(Parkersburg) , Dubois (Mount Hope) , Aracoma (Logan) , Lincoln (Hinton andWheeling), Conley (Mullens), Gary (Gary), Excelsior (~xcelsior) , Stratton(Beckley), Byrd Prlllerman (Amigo), Park Central (Bluefield), Dunbar(Faimont), Liberty (Williamson), and Ximball (Ximball) are a part of theesteemed history of Garnet, as Garnet is a part of their esteemed historyand all a part of the history of education in the state of West Virginia.Throughout its fifty-six years of existence, Garnet as a Black HighSchool was guided by four principals, C.W. Boyd, J.F.J. Clark, Scott M.Brown, and Harry E. Dennis.Mr. Boyd, born in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, came to Charleston as ateacher in 1892 and organized Garnett High School in 1900. This grew outof a graded school by the same name, being named for Henry HighlandGarnett. Although being born a slave in Maryland, Mr. Garnett and hisparents escaped from slavery and settled in New York City. He attendedschool, graduating from college, and continued his education by becominga minister. He became a leader of the abolitionist movement.Mr. Boyd was made Garnett's first principal and held that positionuntil 1908 when he became Supervisor of Charleston Negro Public Schools.He later became principal of Boyd Junior High School, when it came intoexistence. Mr. Boyd retired in 1936 after forty-five years in theteaching profession.Mr. J.F.J. Clark became Garnett's second principal in 1908. A yearlater a separate high school building, the first of its kind for theinstruction of Negro youths in the state of West Virginia, wasconstructed on the same plot of ground with the grade school building,located on Jacob Street. The growth of the high school was such that in1927 a new building, and location was proposed- -at the corner of Lewis andShrewsbury Streets. In addition to conventional classrooms, this'xilding included an auditorium, gymnasium, library, cafeteria, specialmms for sewing, domestic science, mechanical drawing, printing, andseparate laboratories for chemistry, physics, and biology. Throughoutits years the building always maintained its newsness.

United States Department of the lnterlorNational Park ServiceNational Register of HistoricContinuation SheetSection number 8 Page 3There was no campus. We didnVbt realize the lack of one or complainabout not having one. The building opened directly on the streets.Perhaps that is the reason for persons around the czuntry having anattachment for Shrewsbury Street.It has been said that when the school name was cut in thecornerstone and the arch over the entrance, the stone cutting companyomitted one of the It's in Garnett's name. The Board of Education didnot require them to correct the mistake. Thus, after 1929, the schoolbecame Garnet, with one It'.Under Mr. Clark's leadership, Garnet developed into a first-classsenior high school. He retired from active service as principal in May,1946, having served for almost four decades. Many, many studentsremember Mr. Clark.September of It46" saw Mr. Scott M. Brown at the helm of Garnet. Hehad been principal of Wake Forest Junior High for eight years, andprincipal of Boyd Junior High for two years. He continued the traditionof excellence at Garnet, and in June 1949, he became AssistantSuperintendent of Schools.September 1949, Mr. Harry E. Dennis became Garnet's fourth and lastprincipal. Prior to coming to Garnet High as principal, Mr. Dennistaught at Dunbar High, Weirton; Lincoln High, Wheeling; West VirginiaState College; and was principal of Carter G. Woodson Junior High, St.Albans .The U.S. Supreme Court's decision of 1954 declaring "separate, butequalft unconstitutional would naturally-have its effect on all Blackschools. So it was that Mr. Dennis presided at Garnet s lastcommencement May 25, 1956.Shortly thereafter Garnet lost its identity andJohn Adams Junior High, but in a later ceremony afterwas constructed on South Hills, the building was renamedEducation Center. It so remains today.became known asa new John. Adamsthe Garnet AdultFrom the thousands of students who passed through the halls ofGarnet, who are scattered across the country, who are in every walkof life, and who have happy memories, a Great Big Thank You to theprincipals, teachers, and staff who, at sometime during its fifty-sixyears, were a part of Garnet's history.

United States Department of the InteriorNational Park ServiceNational Register of Historic PlacesContinuation SheetSection number 8 PageSuch love of school and each other so exist today that every threeor four years a thousand or more former students return home to attendGarnet's Reunion. It is a joyful and heart warming occasion. Garnetwill live many more years.Garnet High was famous in West Virginia for the quality of itsprograms and curriculum. Its graduates attained renown in manyprofessional fields such as medicine, dentistry, law, education, socialwork, music, the airline industry, and the militaq. Among famousgraduates are Tony Brown, host and president of Tony Brown ~roductionsand Tony Brown Journal; Dr. John C. Norman, a leader in thoracic andcardiovascular surgery (his father became West Virginia's eregistered black architect and engineer); Rev. Leon ~illivan, for over 30iears pastor of the largest black church in Philadelphia and the firstblack member of the Board of Directors of General Motors Corpo- Lation; andLewis R. Smoot, Sr., president and CEO of the Sherman R. Smoot Company ofColumbus, Ohio.Another significant aspect of Garnet High School is the 1960saddition which meets National Register criterion consideration G. Thisextension of Garnet High School is of 10 0rj-anc.e as a work of JohnC. Norman (1892-1967), West Virginia's gistered black architect.Norman attempted to integrate the newer unit with the older using adesign obviously contemporary but possessing, setbacks, scale, andtextures complementary to the older building.Garnet High School has achieved significance under criterionConsideration G because of the special importance the building played inthe life of the black community before 1956, the year the school closed.An illustration of that importance is the branch library of. theCharleston library system which located at Garnet. public libraryresources were thus made available to the city's black citizens throughGarnet High.

United States Department of the InteriorNational Park ServiceNational Register of Historic PlacesContinuation SheetSection number 8 Page 5Period of SianificanceThe period of significance begins with the construction of thebuilding, 1928-29, and extends to the year of the building's closure in1956. The excellent state of the building's preservation is the resultof the pride that both the black community and student showered upon itduring the decades of its service to Charleston area blacks.The Garnet Hiqh School NameGarnet High School was named for Henry Highland Garnett(1815-1882), a noted black clergyman, abolitionist, and diplomat.Garnett was born in Maryland, a descendant of Mandigo.peoples of AfricanSudan. Escaping from slavery, Garnett settled with his parents in NewYork City. After graduation from Oneida Institute near Utica, N.Y.,Garnett became a leader in the abolitionist movement. ~ctive in GreatBritain and in international peace movements Garnett was appointed U.S.Consul General to Liberia by President Garfield.

United States Department of the InteriorNational Park Servicelational Register of '~istoric PlacesContinuation Sheet .Section number 9 Page 1Garnet High School dedication program, December 2-4, 1929.Randall, James D.1989.and Anna E. Gilmer. Black Past. Charleston, W.V.,Randall, James D. stWest Virginia Historic Properties Inventory Form."Division of Culture and History, 1987.

CHARLESTON WEST QUADRANGLEWEST VIRGINIA-KANAWHA CO. ' ,b0 +\+u G7.5 MINUTE SE.SIES (TOPOGRAPHIC)SW14 CilARLESTON IS' QUADRANGLE,+I,.'