JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville’s oldest high school for African Americans got some love and attention Saturday morning as area groups got together for a community clean up event.
The Historic Stanton Building sits in Downtown Jacksonville on Ashley Street, but after years of sitting empty, the building is now a shell of its former glory.
Sunday morning, crews spent hours landscaping and restoring the area. Some volunteers had a special connection to the Historic Stanton School.
“When I went here, the service with the teachers was amazing," Bejion King, a volunteer, said.
King attended preschool inside the building, but the history of the location starts decades before he was born.
In 1869, a group of former slaves built a two-story wooden schoolhouse on the property. The name Stanton in honor of a champion of education for negro boys and girls, Gen. Edwin McMasters Stanton, President Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War.
That building burnt down in the Jacksonville fire of 1901 and another wooden structure was erected in its place. After years of neglect, leaders fought for a brick building to be constructed. In 1917, the brick building which stands today was built, one of the only secondary schools for Black Americans at the time.
“This was one of the only Black high school, secondary schools in Jacksonville up until Brown v. The Board of Education, so that is increasingly important.," Barry Farmer, a clean-up organizer, said.
History was made within the school's walls. Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing was first performed at Stanton in 1900. The song's creator, James Weldon Johnson, was the school principal at the time.
By 1953, the Stanton name would be transferred to a new building on 13th Street in LaVilla and renamed, "New Stanton Senior High School."
The Stanton Board of Trustees, which owns part of the building, says the first floor is operational, but the upper levels need some work. Leaders say reconstruction on the roof will begin this year, but they have future plans for offices, community spaces, and a museum to preserve the school's history.
“We plan to have a museum here of the school’s memorabilia, its alumni. We’ll have a shop, a gallery so to speak so we can displace our artifacts from the past," Charles B. Macintosh, member of the Stanton Board of Trustees, said. “Get it ready so that the eyes of Jacksonville can behold once again the way this institution the way it was in 1917.”
The Stanton Board of Trustees are raising funds so that they can continue renovations to the Stanton Historic building.