Status: Demolished in 2006; delisted Nov. 9, 2007
Address: 3200 Mount Olive Road, Memphis
Built: 1936; additions in 1949 and 1952
Architectural Style: Art Deco
History: The earliest school at this location in the historically Black community of Douglass was built with the aid of the Julius Rosenwald Fund in the nineteen-teens or -twenties. After fire damaged the old buildings in 1934, a new W.P.A.-built school replaced them in 1936; it was favored by a visit from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1937. A high school was added in 1949 (artist’s rendering pictured above) when Memphis took over the school from Shelby County, and another addition took place in 1952. The Douglass School and High School were highly significant in the development of services and social programs in the community. Due to dwindling enrollment the school was closed in 1981, but perhaps partly in hopes of its renovation for other purposes it was placed on the National Register in 1998. The old buildings were razed in September 2006 to make way for their replacement, whose grand opening took place in November 2008.
City Council District: 7
Super District: 8
County Commission District: 7