Site of Lincoln High School
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1891, the first high school for African American students in Palestine opened in the mission church on San Jacinto Street. Four years later, the school moved to this site and became known as Lincoln High School. The first class graduated from Lincoln in 1896. Originally a four-room building, the schoolhouse was expanded over time to accommodate increasing enrollment. In 1922, the Lincoln school building burned, and classes were held in several churches until the new, six-room brick structure was completed in 1923. As rural districts consolidated with Palestine, enrollment at Lincoln continued to increase, and the school became an important cultural center for the African American community. In 1952, the school board approved construction of a new high school to be named in honor of Alonzo Marion Story, Lincoln's principal from 1925 to 1949. The building that had formerly housed the high school reopened as Lincoln Junior High in the fall of 1953. Serving grades five through eight, it later housed grades two through eight before closing in 1965 when the Palestine schools integrated. After 1965, the Lincoln school building remained in use as an important social center and as headquarters for the Anderson County Community Council. A 1996 fire resulted in its demolition, but this site remains a significant part of the educational and community heritage of Palestine and Anderson County. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Palestine's first high school for African American students opened in 1891 in a mission church, moving to this site in 1895 as Lincoln High School, with its first class graduating in 1896. Rebuilt in brick after a 1922 fire, the growing school became a cultural anchor for the Black community. It served as a junior high after 1953 and closed in 1965 when the city's schools integrated, remaining a community center until a 1996 fire led to its demolition.
Why it matters
Lincoln's arc from segregated schoolhouse to integration marks the long struggle for Black education and equal citizenship in the American South.
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Related people
- · Alonzo Marion Story
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Timothy Stephen Smith
Palestine, TX
Born in 1902 to a father who had escaped slavery, Timothy Stephen Smith earned a degree from Prairie View A&M and taught school for forty-two years. Convinced that Anderson County's voting boundaries diluted Black political strength, he and others sued in 1973; Judge William Wayne Justice agreed, striking down a "racially motivated gerrymander" and forcing a switch to single-member districts. Similar success against the City of Palestine soon followed, opening the way for the county's first Black officeholders.
N. A. Banks Elementary School
Palestine, TX
Established in 1912, Banks Elementary was the first school for African-American children living south of the I&GN tracks in Palestine's South End. It honored Nathaniel A. Banks, the Lincoln High principal who ran a summer 'normal school' that trained Black teachers from ten surrounding counties for state certification. Several of its teachers stayed more than 35 years each, and after desegregation closed the school in 1965 the building served five more years as a federal Head Start center.
South Union Missionary Baptist Church
Palestine, TX
In 1893 the Rev. Richard Henry Boyd—a formerly enslaved Mississippian known as the "Cowboy Preacher"—organized South Union Baptist Church in Palestine with 31 charter members. Boyd founded churches across Texas while pursuing a larger vision: creating Christian literature for the nation's African American churches, work that eventually drew him to Nashville as a religious publisher. The Palestine congregation grew from a two-room building into a larger 1948 sanctuary and long opened its doors to community and educational groups, its rolls reflecting the railroad workers and civic leaders of Black Palestine.
Frederick Douglass Elementary School
Palestine, TX
Opened in 1875 as the 'First Ward School for Coloreds,' this was the only public school ever built in Palestine's Old Town neighborhood, and for nearly a century it educated the community's African-American children. Renamed for Frederick Douglass in 1898 after the great abolitionist's death, it rebuilt in brick after a 1912 fire and became far more than a schoolhouse — hosting teacher associations, Friday assemblies, and county-fair exhibits. Three generations of the Freeman family led it before desegregation closed its doors in 1967.