Dogan High School

The plaque says the school took its name from Dr. Matthew Dogan Sr. of Wiley College, and the Handbook of Texas names Matthew Dogan as the president who followed Isaiah B. Scott, the college's first African American president, in 1896. He served forty-six years, until 1942. A fire in 1906 destroyed five of eleven campus buildings. By 1907 students had built the president's home and a Carnegie library, funded without the usual matching grant. The library was open to the whole community, and the entry says it was Marshall's only public library until 1974.

What the plaque says

Dogan High School The first public school for African Americans in Fairfield was established in 1926. Located on what was known as "The Flat" on a small one-acre plot adjacent to the First Baptist Church, the school was named Fairfield Colored School. Over time, enrollment increased, requiring additional classrooms. The sanctuary of the First Baptist Church was used as a classroom for a time. In 1934, community members, including Billie Lorenzo McIlveen, Willie Solomon and Bill Nolan, successfully petitioned the school board to relocate the school to this site, retaining the same faculty and nine-grade system. Shortly after, in keeping with Texas college requirements, Fairfield began to offer courses to meet entrance criteria that led to the establishment of the Colored High School. Also at this time, Principal Mae V. Donahue suggested changing the name of the school to Dogan High School, in honor of Wiley College President, Dr. Matthew Dogan, Sr. Dogan's Wildcat Athletic Program consisted of baseball, track and basketball for boys, and softball, track and basketball for girls. The Dogan Wildcat boys' team was runner-up in the state basketball tournament in 1953, 1957, 1959 and 1963. Mr. Randolph Titus, Principal of Dogan High School from 1936-1968, instilled pride in education in his students despite social and educational obstacles. Mr. Titus' success may be measured by the success of his students. Dogan alumni went on to be notable educators, dentists, doctors, lawyers, ministers, veterans, public officials and more. Academic programs at Dogan High School proved among the best in the area and enrollment increased. Dogan fully integrated in 1968. The campus continues to serve as a location for many organizations and community events focusing on education and social service. (2016)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery — 19 mi
  The Freestone County grave of the Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who recorded for Paramount in Chicago from 1926 and died there in December 1929.
• Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site — 24 mi
  Where Limestone County Confederate veterans gathered each summer from 1888, later a water supplier in the Mexia oil boom, now a Texas Historical Commission site on the Navasota River.
• Old Fort Parker — 25 mi
  A rebuilt 1830s family stockade near the Navasota River, where a May 1836 attack killed men of the Parker settlement and took five captives, among them nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker.

More markers nearby

• Rev. George Washington Baines — 0.8 mi
• James Bonner Rogers — 0.8 mi
• David Hall Love — 0.8 mi
• Freestone County — 0.9 mi