Wharton Training School

The school's roots go back to Reconstruction. The Handbook of Texas says Freedmen's Bureau schools operated after 1865 and that the first Reconstruction school for Black students became the Wharton Training School. Black Wharton had also built a public life: Bird B. Davis sat in the 1875 constitutional convention, R. H. Tisdale was elected county commissioner in 1880, and E. P. Young county and district clerk in 1888. Two Black newspapers, the Southern Monitor in 1887 and the Elevator in 1897, appeared, and Black-owned businesses clustered around the courthouse square until the late 1930s.

What the plaque says

Wharton Training School For almost eighty years, the Wharton Training School provided the African American community of Wharton County with high-quality education. The school was established in 1896 under the name Wharton Colored School. The first principal was W.H. Hathaway (d.1899). C.W. Dawson was principal from April 18, 1939, until the school closed in 1968. The school provided education for students of all ages, as it continued to do throughout its service. For nearly three decades, the original location of the school served as the center for African American education in Wharton. In 1927, the county applied for a Rosenwald fund grant to build a new school that would be able to serve more students. The grant was awarded and the school moved to the corner of Canton (now MLK Blvd.) and Outlar Streets with the money provided. A seven-room frame structure served as the main school building until 1955. The school was renamed the Wharton County Training School in 1937 and by 1939, it serviced the entire African American community of Wharton County. Students from schools outside of the city were transported to attend the training school. In 1955, a brick building was erected which housed the training school's first science labs and additional classrooms. With this new building, the school was able to provide students with a full-scale curriculum, including advanced science, home economics and art classes. They were also able to offer athletic programs including a celebrated football team. The school became the center of the community and hosted many social events. Many graduates of the Wharton Training School returned as teachers or administrators before the school closed in 1968. Alumni groups are still active today, ensuring the legacy of the Wharton Training School. (2019)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge — 25 mi
  Ten thousand acres of native coastal prairie northeast of Eagle Lake, kept for a critically endangered grouse, many of whose birds are hatched in captivity and released here.

More markers nearby

• Judge George E. Quinan — 1.0 mi
• First Baptist Church of Wharton — 1.0 mi
• Wharton County — 1.0 mi
• City of Wharton — 1.0 mi