Kilgore Colored and C. B. Dansby Schools

De'Lores Arline, who wrote the text submitted for the Texas Historical Commission marker, remembered Dansby as a close-knit school and recalled singing the school song for the last time when it closed in 1969. Students feared the unknown, she said, and some who had attended the all-white Kilgore High School under freedom of choice had been poorly received. A $203,000 state grant paid for asbestos removal and demolition of the building on five acres in 2013, and the city planned to save some bricks for a memorial. KLTV reported in 2021 that only the marker and a bench remain.

What the plaque says

Kilgore Colored and C. B. Dansby Schools Formal education of Kilgore's African American youth is recorded as early as 1873 through Kilgore Baptist Church. On August 27, 1906, Kilgore residents voted to incorporate the Kilgore Independent School District (KISD), which included segregated African American schools. On this site in 1935, the KISD constructed a new brick building for African American students. The original building included seven classrooms, a principal's office, book room and 400-seat auditorium. A year later the school expanded with four additional classrooms and indoor plumbing. In 1939, growth continued with a science and agriculture building, followed by a cafeteria in 1944 and a band hall in 1954. C. B. Dansby (1898-1955) was the beloved principal for nearly twenty-five years, and under his tenure the school expanded from six grades to twelve and consolidated surrounding rural schools. Tragically, principal Dansby died during a graduation ceremony. The school was officially renamed in his honor in 1956. Hired upon Dansby's death, Odis H. Turner (1908-1992) was the final principal from 1955 to 1970. Dansby High School continued to educate African American children of KISD until desegregation of the district on August 8, 1970. The Dansby High School buildings housed KISD specialty classes for two years after the school's closing. Later, private investors purchased the property and used the campus as a multi-service facility for the community. The property passed to the jurisdiction of the city of Kilgore, who demolished the buildings in 2013. Although no longer standing, the Kilgore Colored and C.B. Dansby high schools provided a quality education to students all while teaching and providing love, care and respect. (2017)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• East Texas Oil Museum — 1.3 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.
• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 11 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 22 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• Tyler State Park — 24 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.

More markers nearby

• Lou Della Crim Home — 0.5 mi
• The Kilgore I&GN-Missouri Pacific Railroad Station — 0.5 mi
• World's Richest Acre — 0.6 mi
• Site of Alexander Institute — 0.7 mi