Site of Central School
Marshall, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Early schools for Marshall's African Americans consisted of loosely organized classes held in homes, churches, and lodge halls. In 1894 Professor H. B. Pemberton, Sr., convinced city officials of the need for a school building and a fixed curriculum for African Americans. Pemberton arranged a loan, which the African American community repaid, to establish Marshall's first public school, "Central School," at this site in 1894. Central expanded in 1906 to include a high school. Central High School moved in 1925 and the school here was renamed "Hillside." Hillside School closed in 1941. (1994)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
For years, schooling for Marshall's Black children happened wherever space allowed — in homes, churches, and lodge halls. In 1894 Professor H. B. Pemberton, Sr., persuaded city officials to back a real school and arranged a loan, repaid by the Black community itself, to build "Central School" on this site. It grew to include a high school by 1906, and after Central High moved in 1925 the campus continued as Hillside School until it closed in 1941.
Why it matters
Central School shows African American communities in the Jim Crow South financing and building their own institutions of learning when public support fell short.
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Related people
- · H. B. Pemberton, Sr.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Marshall
Marshall, TX
Marshall was founded around 1841 after landowner Peter Whetstone offered land for a courthouse, church, and school, and representative Isaac Van Zandt named it for U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall. By 1850 it ranked among the wealthiest towns in East Texas. During the Civil War it was a major Confederate stronghold, home to the exiled Missouri state government and the postal headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Department; afterward it hosted a Freedmen's Bureau office and, with the arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railway, became a regional education center anchored by Wiley and Bishop colleges.
Wiley College
Marshall, TX
Established in 1873 by the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Church, Wiley College opened its doors to Black men and women freed by the Civil War, one of the earliest such institutions west of the Mississippi. Named for Bishop Isaac W. Wiley, the school moved to Marshall in 1878 and graduated its first college student, Henry B. Pemberton, in 1888; in 1893 the Rev. Isaiah Scott, a former slave preacher, became its first Black president. Under Dr. Matthew W. Dogan's 46-year tenure, Wiley earned a top rating and pioneered the influential combined academic-technical curriculum known as the "Wiley Method," widely copied among Black colleges.
James Leonard Farmer, Sr.
Marshall, TX
James Leonard Farmer, Sr. earned a doctorate from Boston University in 1918 and became a Methodist minister and scholar of philosophy and religion, teaching at Wiley College and other historically Black institutions across the South. A popular speaker and author, he pastored churches in Marshall, Texarkana, and Galveston. His son, James Farmer, Jr., grew up to found the Congress of Racial Equality and lead the civil rights movement.
Matthew W. Dogan, Sr.
Marshall, TX
Born in 1863 to enslaved parents who purchased their family's freedom, Matthew W. Dogan was valedictorian at Rust College before becoming a mathematician and, in 1896, the second African American president of Wiley College. Over nearly five decades he built thirteen campus buildings, doubled enrollment, secured a Carnegie Library erected by student labor, and raised a substantial endowment. He shielded students and faculty in a segregated community until his 1942 retirement, and is buried in Wiley Cemetery.