Church Street School - in 1866, Rev. Fredrick Braxton opened the first “colored school” in Lexington in the “Ladies Hall,” at the Methodist Church on Main and Church Streets. Over 300 students were enrolled.[i] The building was purchased with fund raised by black women, who spent the prior year raising funds for the purpose. The Freedman’s Bureau also help funded the new school building. The school was named the Howard School, after General O. O. Howard, director of the Freedman’s Bureau. The school was also supported by the American Missionary Association[1]. The AMA provided six white teachers from the north. By 1868, enrollment increased to 900 students, with classrooms located in the First Baptist Church, Pleasant Green Baptist Church, Main Street Baptist Church and Christian Church. The school was closed in 1882.
[1] In 1890, the American Missionary Association also founded the Chandler Normal School on Georgetown Road, to provide secondary segregated education. The $15,000 funding was supplied by Phebe Chandler, a northern philanthropist. In 1914, Webster Hall was added to expand enrollment. The school closed in 1923.
[i] Lexington Observer & Reporter, October 2, 1867, page 3, column 3.
