Fred Douglass School

The marker counts the fires. The Sherman Daily Democrat of March 24, 1919 described the second: the two-story frame building, then the only high school building for Black children in town, burned overnight and nothing inside was saved. In a segregated district there was no other school to borrow, so the board arranged to use the four Black churches nearby and expected to lose only a day. A November 1920 letter to the paper called the rebuilt school the best for Black children in Texas.

What the plaque says

Fred Douglass School Named for the famed 19th century African American orator Frederick Douglass, the Fred Douglass School was created as one of Sherman's first three public schools in 1879. Two houses one block west of this site were rented for the education of the area's African American children. In the first years of the Fred Douglass School the number of students was about 85. By 1907 the school's population was 350. Fire plagued the Fred Douglass School: in 1904 and again in 1919 the wood buildings were destroyed. In 1920 a three-story brick structure was erected at the corner of college and East streets. The school grew rapidly and by 1939 plans for expansion were necessary. In 1943, educational improvements began to take place. More faculty members had advanced degrees and the curriculum was expanded to include African American history, business and vocational courses. A National Honor Society chapter was formed, and the sports program was expanded. A modern building was erected in 1957; ten years later, the school district became fully integrated, and the Fred Douglass School became the district's special education facility. In the late 20th century it remained the center for a variety of programs for all Sherman students. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 8.3 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge — 11 mi
  A 1946 refuge on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, laid over land bought for Denison Dam and the site of the vanished railroad town of Hagerman, now a winter stop for geese.
• Eisenhower State Park — 11 mi
  A bluff-top park on Lake Texoma opened in 1958 on land leased from the Corps of Engineers, in the Red River country of Fort Johnson, Colbert's Ferry and the Butterfield stages.
• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 23 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.

More markers nearby

• Site of Old Sherman Opera House — 0.5 mi
• Merchants and Planters National Bank — 0.6 mi
• Kidd-Key College and Music Conservatory — 0.6 mi
• Eleventh Texas Cavalry — 0.6 mi