Garnet High School

United States historic place


Garnet High School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


38°21′4″N 81°37′48″W / 38.35111°N 81.63000°W / 38.35111; -81.63000
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]

Alumni

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]

Gallery

Garnet High School entry, April 2009

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Integration of Garnet High School, Charleston, West Virginia". The Carter Woodson Project. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form" (PDF). Garnet High School. State of West Virginia, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Historic Preservation. 2009-04-04.
^ The Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, West Virginia, Sunday, May 17, 1936, p. 70
^ The Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, West Virginia, Thursday, May 21, 1936, p. 31
^ Kraus, Terry. "Oscar Holmes: He Broke Three Color Barriers, but Few Knew" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration.
^ Schneller, Robert J. Jr. (January–February 1998). "Oscar Holmes: A Place in Naval Aviation" (PDF). Naval Aviation News. United States Navy.
^ Fikes, Robert (6 December 2015). "Oscar Wayman Holmes Jr. (1916–2001)". BlackPast.org.