J Magazine Summer 2018

Remnants of a wall mural remain on the third floor of the Old Stanton High School. In 1953, the school was transformed into a vocational school before closing in 1971.
Mitchell, who serves
as the chairman of the
school’s board of trustees,
admits it’s been an uphill
battle since 1971 to maintain
and begin restoring the
building. He and the other
trustees are now searching
for funding to do necessary
work on the old school’s
windows and roof.
A tour of the formidable
building today gives insight into both what
it once was and what it could be today.
The first floor — called the “basement”
by Mitchell — is where the school’s cafeteria
and vocational shop classes were once
held. Today this lower floor houses both
the day care and the arts group.
It’s on the second floor that the structure
begins to show its age and its tremendous
possibilities.
Light streams through high windows
within an enormous auditorium that once
featured a stage on one end and a balcony
on the other. The high walls have been
stripped of most of their covering of plaster
and paint, revealing the red bricks beneath.
It’s not hard to see this space, which
once could seat 600 students, as the perfect
place for community events and meetings.
“We had a lot of marvelous
teachers and administrators,
and from them came a community
... built around just one school.”
Robert Mitchell
1952 GRADUATE OF Old Stanton High School
A wide brick-walled hall stretches between
the balcony and cavernous space at
the front of the building that was once divided
into classrooms, a principal’s office
and a library. Again, it doesn’t take much
imagination to see an art gallery or museum
eventually within this space so brilliantly
lighted by windows that arch from
waist-level to ceiling.
The building’s third floor is much of the
same — red bricked walls and wide open,
well-lit spaces. A visitor need only step up
to a window to see the mammoth Duval
County Courthouse looming only a block
away. What a sweet spot this could be for
attorneys and others who want to be within
walking distance of the courthouse.
Mitchell says the board of trustees is
open to any suggestions as far as building
uses, although ideally he’d like to retain
at least a portion of the
building for some kind of
educational function. That
was, after all, the first and
primary use of Old Stanton,
and Mitchell believes
it’s important to “maintain
that original purpose.”
“We’re working hard,
very hard, to preserve
and restore this building,”
Mitchell said. Saving such
buildings as Old Stanton is essential because
it reminds people of their history.
“We are the result of others who came
before us,” he said. “These are the symbols
of those on whose shoulders we stand.”
Today Old Stanton is a building worthy
of such attention. The possibilities here
are enormous. Old Stanton stands as an
historic monument to the legacy of African-Americans
in Jacksonville.
Unlike so many historic buildings in
LaVilla, Old Stanton remains standing. But
it needs attention and funding from this
city, not neglect.
Paula Horvath is an editorial writer and
Editorial Board member at The Florida Times-Union
and teaches multimedia journalism at the University
of North Florida. She lives in St. Nicholas.
SUMMER 2018 | J MAGAZINE 87