Oak Lawn School
Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Oak Lawn began as an elementary school for Blacks in 1887 on North Aiken Street. In 1893 the school moved to this site. By the end of the 19th Century, High School classes had been added to the curriculum. Two of the first graduates, Prince Goldthwaite and Robert Davis, later became Oak Lawn High School Principals. Oak Lawn experienced tremendous growth during the 20th century, so the elementary and high schools were separated in 1952. The building at this site continued to serve grades one through seven until the school was closed permanently in 1970.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1887 as an elementary school for Black children, Oak Lawn moved to this site in 1893 and soon added high school classes. Early graduates Prince Goldthwaite and Robert Davis returned to serve as principals. The school grew through the twentieth century, splitting its elementary and high schools in 1952 and continuing until it closed in 1970.
Why it matters
Oak Lawn stands for the determination of African American communities to build lasting institutions of learning across the era of segregated schooling.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Oak Lawn School began in 1887, in the decades after the Civil War and Reconstruction, when Black Texans were building their own institutions. Freedom brought the chance at an education that had been denied under slavery, and African American communities across the South pursued it with great determination.
It was also the era of legal segregation. Texas schools were segregated by race, and Black schools usually received far less public funding, fewer supplies and shorter school terms than white schools. Black communities often made up the difference themselves, with churches, parents and teachers keeping schools running on very little.
Waxahachie was then a prosperous cotton town and the seat of Ellis County, one of the richest cotton-growing regions in Texas. Cotton wealth built grand buildings downtown, but Black families, many of them working the same fields, had to fight for every educational opportunity their children received.
People & events
Oak Lawn started modestly as an elementary school for Black children on North Aiken Street. In 1893 it moved to this site, where it became an anchor of the community. Before the end of the nineteenth century, it had added high school classes. For Black students in a segregated Texas town, a local high school education was a significant achievement.
Two of the school's first graduates, Prince Goldthwaite and Robert Davis, later returned to serve as principals of Oak Lawn High School. That detail says a lot about how communities built themselves: the school produced its own leaders, who came back to lead the next generations.
Through the twentieth century, Oak Lawn grew enormously. By 1952 enrollment was large enough that the elementary and high schools were separated. The building at this site went on serving grades one through seven until the school closed for good in 1970, ending a run of more than eight decades.
Its place in the American story
Oak Lawn is one of many schools built and sustained by African American communities in the segregated South. Together they kept learning alive under an unequal system. They were more than schools: they were centers of community life, sources of pride and training grounds for the teachers, ministers and professionals who led Black America.
The school's lifespan tracks the national history of segregated education. It opened in the era that would be enshrined by the Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896. It kept serving through Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and the slow desegregation that followed across the South. Many historically Black schools closed around this era as districts desegregated. Oak Lawn's closing in 1970 fell within that period.
The story of Goldthwaite and Davis, graduates who became principals, reflects something historians have long described: Black educators in segregated schools were among the most respected leaders of their communities. Remembering Oak Lawn recognizes that legacy of self-reliance and aspiration.
If you visit
The marker stands where Oak Lawn served its students from 1893 until 1970. Imagine the generations of children who arrived here each morning, and the families who sacrificed to make sure they could.
Waxahachie is well known for its striking historic downtown and ornate county courthouse, so you can easily spend an unhurried day here. Pairing that courthouse square with a visit to this marker gives you a fuller picture of the town and who helped build it.
This is a meaningful stop for families, especially children learning about the civil rights era. It's a concrete way to talk about how communities built opportunity for themselves when public institutions failed them, and to honor the teachers who made it happen.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Prince Goldthwaite
- · Robert Davis
Themes & tags
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