Highland Park School
Prince George's County, Maryland
The Highland Park School is one of the success stories in the recognition and preservation of Rosenwald schools in Prince George's County, Maryland. The original school, built in 1928, is now part of larger school complex, but it has considerable significance in the history of black education in the County.
The original Highland Park School is a large brick, hip-roof building; an arched entrance is centered in the main east facade, in a projecting frontispiece surmounted by a shaped parapet. Built into a hillside, the building stands on a high foundation which encloses a full story below grade. It is distinguished by its arched entryway surmounted by a keystone and decorative plaques, its decorative brick stringcourse, and the use of stone for windowsills and the cap of the shaped parapet. This original structure now constitutes the northernmost section of a larger building complex formed by successive additions.
Highland Park School was a focal point in the streetcar suburb of Highland Park. Development of the Highland Park community had begun early in the twentieth century, the earliest recorded plat dating from 1913. Highland Park developed along the right-of-way of the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis (WB&A) Railroad, an interurban line (established 1908) that provided incentive for the establishment of many small communities of commuters. Highland Park was one of several African-American communities that grew up along the WB&A during the 1920s, with most residents being vegetable farmers and laborers on the local produce farms, as well as skilled tradesmen and government workers who commuted into the Federal City. Until 1928, African-American students from this area who aspired to secondary education took the WB&A train into the District of Columbia to attend the Washington high schools for black students.
Prince George's County's first black high school was established in the County Seat (Upper Marlboro) in 1921, and served the southern part of the County. After considerable efforts by citizens in support of the establishment of additional high schools for blacks, the Board of Education approved plans to build two more high schools, partially supported by the Rosenwald Fund. Two nearly identical high schools, at Lakeland and Highland Park, were completed and opened in 1928. The High School at Lakeland was to serve students from the northwestern portion of the County, and the Highland Park School was to serve students from the north-central area. Designs for the two schools (handsome and substantial brick schoolhouses with six classrooms, library, office, bathrooms and utility rooms) were prepared by the architectural firm of Linthicum and Linthicum of Raleigh, North Carolina; many residents of Highland Park worked on the actual construction of their school.
The six-classroom Highland Park School opened in the fall of 1928, with seven teachers, serving all grades from first through twelfth. In the early years, two teachers taught the elementary grades. After finishing the seventh grade, students moved down the hall to take high school classes: math, science, English, history, music and home economics - a different teacher for each subject. High school students were bused to Highland Park from all of the north-central part of Prince George's County. Three citizens from the Highland Park community were named trustees of the school, responsible for monitoring maintenance of the building and reporting any issues to the Board of Education. One of the original trustees was E. D. Martin, a local stonemason who had been very active in promoting the location of Highland Park for a black high school. His son, Clement Martin, later spoke eloquently of entering the brand new school as a first-grader when it opened in 1928. Clem Martin went on to teach in the school, and to send all of his children to the school. After retirement, Martin spent every day watching out for the school, and making sure that all visitors learned of its importance.
Over the years, Highland Park School has served all levels of instruction, high school, junior high school and elementary school. Additions were constructed in 1949, 1958 and 1965, resulting in a long wing attached to the south end of the original (1928) six-room school. But the school was closed in 1973 when Prince George's County implemented a court-order busing system to better integrate the County's schools. Children from the Highland Park community no longer attended their neighborhood school, but were bused to sometimes faraway schools, to the displeasure of their parents and grandparents who had attended Highland Park. For the next 20 years Highland Park School was used as offices and a staff development center.
As all parts of the multi-section Highland Park School building began to show signs of age, the community, led by Clem Martin and other loyal graduates, began to express their fear that the Board of Education was making plans to demolish it; they became very vocal about their determination to preserve it, and, if possible, re-establish it as a neighborhood school. In 1991, the local civic association requested a study of the building, its condition and its historical significance. With energetic assistance from the local citizens, the study was completed by staff of the planning agency that implements the County's Historic Preservation Ordinance. The study recommended designation of the Highland Park School as an Historic Site, to be protected by the Preservation Ordinance. In 1992 the County's Historic Preservation Commission reviewed the recommendation, and the designation was effected, on the basis of three criteria: the school's value as part of the cultural and educational characteristics of the County, its embodiment of distinctive characteristics of the Colonial Revival style of architecture, and its importance as a prominent visual feature of its community. Although the Board of Education was at first concerned about the limitations that Historic Site designation would place on any plans for the building, it was soon won over by the enthusiasm of the local citizens, and their pride in the recognition of what they had long considered the focal point of their community.
Then in 1994, the Board of Education began a total renovation of the original 1928 school structure for the establishment of a Head Start preschool for the Highland Park community. Plans involved replacement of the roof and rebuilding of much of the interior structure, and the work was reviewed and approved by the County's Historic Preservation Commission. One of the happy circumstances of the project was the discovery and use of the original 1928 plans by Linthicum and Linthicum. The Highland Park Head Start Center opened in 1995.
Within a few years, renovation work was also undertaken on the newer, multi-section south wing of Highland Park School, resulting in the opening in the fall of 1999 of the new state-of-the-art Highland Park Elementary School. The opening of the new elementary school was an event of extraordinary celebration, with the reunion of many graduates of the original Rosenwald High School during the 1930s and 1940s. At the opening celebration, Clem Martin was recognized for his steadfast devotion and support for the school, without which the renovations and reopening could not have happened. As he said on the occasion, AI did it because my father fought so hard to get the school here so many years ago - I hope it'll last forever! Interviews with some of the early high school graduates revealed many stories about their teachers and classes, discipline, sports and study, and produced many tears and hearty laughs. And within just a few years, another celebration/reunion would provide additional recognition for Highland Park and the Rosenwald school program.
During the 1990s, and especially during the celebration of the Tricentennial of Prince George's County (established 1696), a new awareness of Rosenwald schools began to grow. The African-American Heritage Survey was published as part of the Tricentennial observance in 1996, informing an interested audience that 23 Rosenwald schools had been built in the County in the 1920s, and that only nine of them were still standing. The interest in Rosenwald schools increased in the next few years, with the County presenting a panel on the subject at the 1999 national conference in Baltimore of the American Association of State and Local History. Later in the same year, the County historian led two full days of tours of African-American historic buildings (including Rosenwald schools) as part of the annual conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C. In 2001, a presentation on the Rosenwald schools of Prince George's County was made at the annual national conference (also in Washington) of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. More and more people and organizations were becoming aware of the history and significance of the Rosenwald school program.
At about this time, the Prince George's County Historical and Cultural Trust (one of Prince George's County's non-profit preservation organizations) adopted as its special project the recognition and preservation of the County's remaining Rosenwald schools. Part of the project was to be the erection of bronze markers on the grounds of the nine surviving Rosenwald schools, and possibly also at the sites of some of the 14 Rosenwald schools no longer standing. Because of the successful renovation and reopening of Highland Park School, it was the school chosen to receive the first marker. On May 29, 2002, a ceremony was held at Highland Park, and the handsome marker was unveiled on the front lawn of the 1928 school; again a group of loyal alumni/alumnae gathered to celebrate and reminisce. The bronze marker (a sturdy 18x24-inch plaque mounted on a sturdy shaft) has on each side a graphic illustration of the 1928 building as well as text in gold lettering describing the history and significance of the school. At the unveiling, the chairman of the Trust stated, ABy recognizing Highland Park School, we have promoted public awareness of the impact that Rosenwald schools had on the advancement of public education. This marker will serve as a permanent reminder of what can be accomplished when people work together across racial, ethnic and cultural lines and with the cooperation of the public and private sector. The PGCH&CT has established a fund to finance the production and erection of markers for other Rosenwald schools in the County.
The Highland Park School has been a prominent landmark in its community from its earliest days. It represents Prince George's County's response to pressures for increased local educational opportunities from emerging black communities, and marks a significant step in the progress of the African-American educational movement. It is a significant physical reminder of the historical role of the Rosenwald school program. Although the original building is now part of a much larger structure, it still conveys its original architectural characteristics. More importantly, its devoted and loyal graduates have achieved their goal of the rebirth and recognition of their school. For them, the school is a symbol of all that they represent, and all that they hope for the next generations of their children.
