Historic Camden school receives grant for restoration of gymnasium
The Lafayette School Gymnasium recently received a grant to help with restoration efforts.
A local group of Lafayette School alumni received a $1000 grant from the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame Foundation to help clean the inside of the gym. The historic gym is on the Arkansas Registry of Historic Places under Criterion A for is significance and association with African-American education in the Camden and Ouachita County areas. The gym was built around 1950 and served as the setting for sporting event and community gathering.
The Lafayette School was founded in 1928 by Superintendent J.C. Gresham to provided improved facilities and education for African American children.
According to the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Lafayette School benefited from Julius Rosenwald and the Rosenwald Fund.
“During the Fund’s 1927-1928 budget year, a grant of $1,200 was given to build a four-teacher type school on the campus. The building’s total cost was $12,500, and in addition to the Rosenwald Fund grant, the local African-American community gave $800 with the remaining $10,500 coming from public funds. During the time of the building’s construction, a Parent Teacher Association was formed and Mr. Anderson Williams was named president of the Association. In addition, Mr. Monroe Bowie gave $50 for a cornerstone for the new building and Mr. J. R. Calahan had the honor of placing the cornerstone at the building site,” the site reads.
The school continued to grow through the 50’s when it began redevelopment and incorporating more extracurricular activities and studies.
The gymnasium remained in use at the school campus until the school closed as a result of desegregation, which was required by law to happen by 1970. Steve Holcombe was the first African-American student to attend nearby Fairview School (located approximately 1.25 miles northwest of the Lafayette School campus), and Mrs. Bertha Thomas Kennedy was the first African-American teacher at Fairview, and she later became the first African-American principal of Fairview Middle School. Mr. Samuel D. Lawson served as Lafayette’s last principal before the school closed at the end of the 19681969 term.