Garnet High School | |
Location | 422 Dickinson St., Charleston, West Virginia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°21′4″N 81°37′48″W / 38.35111°N 81.63000°W |
Area | The Block |
Built | 1928 |
Architect | Warne, Tucker, Silling & Hutchison |
Architectural style | Classical Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 90001068 [1] |
Added to NRHP | July 24, 1990 |
Garnet High School, also known as Garnet Career Center and Garnet Adult Education Center, is a historic African-American high school in Charleston, West Virginia. The school was established when "twelve African-American students in Kanawha County passed an entrance examination for high school level course work." [2] It was named after Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave who became the United States' ambassador to Liberia. [2] It is a three-story, brick structure, constructed in 1928-29 from the plans of the prestigious Charleston architectural firm of Warne, Tucker, Silling and Hutchison, and dedicated December 2 to 4, 1929. The façade features a limestone-arched entrance containing two sets of double doors, transom light, and a limestone tympanum. Garnet was one of three high schools in the Kanawha Valley built for African-American students. It closed as a high school in 1956, following integration of the public schools, [2] but has been used as a public resource building since that time. [3]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. [1]
Singer, musical performer and Dot Records recording artist Rita Moss graduated in 1936. At her convocation she played Mendelssohn's "War March of The Priests" on piano. [4] [5]
Oscar Holmes (1916–2001) graduated from this school and became the first African-American Naval Aviator and air traffic controller. [6] [7] [8]