Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 08/03/22

SUMMARY

Constructed in 1944 by Gilbreath & Swann and located at 802 East Idaho Street, the Beebe Colored School is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion A for its associations with the education of African Americans in White County during the mid-twentieth century.  From the time of its construction in 1944 until 1956, when students were taken to the White County Training School in Searcy, the Beebe Colored School provided the only educational opportunity for the African-American students in the Beebe vicinity.  In addition, today the building is the last remaining African-American school in White County, and an important reminder of White County’s African-American heritage.

ELABORATION
HISTORY OF THE PROPERTY

European settlement in the area that is now White County began around the 1820s, “and by the date of the organization of the county, 1836, all parts of the territory composing it were more or less sparsely settled.”  The act for the creation of White County was approved by the Territorial Legislature on October 23, 1835, and the organization of the county was completed early in 1836.  The first session of the county court was held at David Crise’s house, which was located three and a half miles east of Searcy.  However, within a couple years, the county seat was moved to Searcy and the first session of the court was held there in November 1838.  By 1840, the county’s population was 920 people, and it grew to 2,619 people in 1850, 8,316 people in 1860, 10,347 people in 1870, and 17,794 people in 1880.[1]

The construction of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad through White County in the early 1870s led to development of new towns in the county, including Beebe.  Goodspeed noted that Beebe “began to build in the spring of 1872 (upon the completion of the railroad), but did not improve much until 1880, when it had reached a population of 428, and since then it has more than doubled in population.”  By the early 1890s, Beebe had grown substantially, and Goodspeed reported that:

It has ten general, four grocery, three drug, two hardware, one furniture, two millinery and one notion store; also the White County Bank, two hotels, several boarding houses, two meat markets, two blacksmith and wagon shops, one saw and grist mill combined, two cotton-gins, two livery stables, railroad depot, postoffice [sic.], one photograph gallery, a fruit evaporator, five church edifices for the white and two for the colored people, a public school-house, five physicians, a dentist, two weekly newspapers, etc., etc.  …  It is incorporated and has a full line of corporate officers.  It also has lodges of the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities.[2]

By the late 1880s, White County already had an African-American student population, although it was small in size compared to the white students.  According to Goodspeed’s Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas, the student population in White County was “White, males 3,384, females 3,173, total 6,557; colored, males 410, females 404, total 814.  Number of pupils taught in the public schools:  White, males 2,159, females 1,971, total 4,150; colored, males 295, females 283, total 578.”  Goodspeed further noted that “Assuming these statistics to be correct, only 63 per cent of the white and 71 per cent of the colored scholastic population were taught in the public schools.”[3]  By 1891, there were 124 white teachers and 21 black teachers in White County.[4]

Little is known about the buildings that would have been used for the education of African Americans during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  However, it is known that in the late 1920s, three schools for African-American students were built in White County with assistance from the Julius Rosenwald Fund.  The White County Training School, a four-teacher school, and the Mountain View School, a one-teacher school, were both funded with grants during the Rosenwald Fund’s 1928-1929 budget year, while the West Point School, a two-teacher school, was funded during the Rosenwald Fund’s 1929-1930 budget year.[5]  Even though the Rosenwald Fund only built three schools in White County, and over a short period of time, other African-American schools were built in the county, specifically the Beebe Colored School, which was built in 1944.

The Beebe School, located at 802 East Idaho Street, was built on August 24, 1944 by Gilbreath & Swann at the intersection of South Apple and East Idaho streets facing the Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks.[6]  The property is significant because it served as a school for African American students during the era of “separate but equal,” and it later served the community as a church.[7]  Before 1944, a larger one-room black schoolhouse stood on this property, but that was torn down to be replaced by the current building.[8]  From 1944 to 1956, black students attended grades 1 through 7 at the Beebe School. Once they finished the 7^th grade, students moved on to either Searcy or Little Rock to complete school.  Mrs. Alsie Smith and Mrs. Rachel B. Smith were two teachers known to have taught at the school.[9]^,[10]  In 1956, the Beebe School was shut down and black students were picked up at the Abington House located across the street from the school and bussed by Mr. Oliver to the White County Training School in Searcy, which was the black school of Searcy, until Searcy schools were integrated in 1964.[11]^,[12]^,[13]

On July 29^th, 1961, Ozier Moore was awarded the property by the Beebe Special School District after he provided the winning bid of $777.00.[14]  The building was then used in the following years by a church.[15]^,[16]^,[17]  By 1987, the building had fallen in disrepair and was being used by Les Cossey as storage for his backhoe business.[18]  Beginning in the early 2000s, Beebe historian Richard White (now deceased) advocated for the rehabilitation of the Beebe Colored School, ultimately nominating it to Preserve Arkansas’s Most Endangered Places List in 2010.[19]  In December of 2019, the Moore family sold the property to the City of Beebe for $1.00 in the hopes that the building could be saved.[20]  On August 27, 2021, the White County Historical Society voted to restore the building and begin fundraising.[21]

The Beebe School building is the last example of a segregated school for black students in White County. This makes the landmark extremely valuable for the local African-American community as well as the entire county.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPERTY

Between 1944 and 1956, the Beebe Colored School was an important part of the educational system in Beebe.  Until the students in Beebe were sent to the White County Training School in Searcy, the Beebe Colored School was the only school in the community for African-American students.  In addition, today the Beebe Colored School is the last remaining African-American school building in White County, and it is an important reminder of White County’s African-American Heritage.  Due to its significant associations with African-American education in Beebe and White County, the Beebe Colored School is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion A for its associations with the education of African Americans in White County during the mid-twentieth century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Beebe Colored School,” Arkansas Architectural Resources Survey, page 1.  In the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas.  Chicago:  The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1890.

Fuller, Brady, interview by Josh Jackson, Beebe, September 21, 2020.

Greg Geary, Daily Citizen, “Beebe holds off on demolishing segregated schoolhouse to give historical society time to raise funds,” August 27, 2021, Published in the Daily Citizen on August 28, 2021.

Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, “Nine in Need,” HPAA, Little Rock, Arkansas, 2010, page 2.

Information on Rosenwald Schools found at Rosenwald.fisk.edu.

Jefferson, Ross, Interviewed by Will Walker, WCHS, September 15, 2020.

Jefferson, Ross, interview by Will Walker, Searcy, July 27, 2021.

Johnson, Claude E.  The Humorous History of White County, Arkansas.  Privately published, 1975.

McDonough, Jennifer Lynn, “Historic American Landscapes Survey: Colored School Beebe Arkansas,” December 12, 2020, page 2.

Office of Education (U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare), “Working Together: Case Studies of Title I, ESEA Programs in Four Desegregated School Districts,” U.S. Government Printing Office (1974), page 91.

Patton, Rachel, Preserve Arkansas, October 22, 2020.

Pauley, Jessica “jessicaabington,” YouTube video, 9:00, March 29, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6EDdHGWLkQ.

White County, Arkansas, Trustees Deed, Book 2019, page 17948, July 28, 2021, www.actdatascout.com.

White County, Arkansas, Warranty Deed, Book 272, page 357-358, July 29, 1961, White County Courthouse.

White, Richard, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Application, October 20, 1987.

White, Richard, The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, Application to place property on the 2010 Nine in Need list, (n.d.)