E.H. Henry Rosenwald School

E.H. Henry Rosenwald School. . Before a school existed in Eagle Lake, African Americans were educated at home or in small churches, with some classes held in a local blacksmith shop. The first school for African-American children was located on Main Street in a room on the first floor of the old United Brotherhood of Friendship Hall. The school was later relocated to C Street. In the late 1920s, a visionary young professor, Eugene H. Henry (b. 1896), came to Eagle Lake to teach. Born in Flatonia, Henry was educated at Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College, received a scholarship to Howard University and served in the U.S. Army during World War I. Henry, along with others, saw the need for an African-American school in Eagle Lake. Beginning in 1917, Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck Company, began to provide matching funds for African American schools in the south., In 1929, Eugene Henry and his supporters sought an application for a Rosenwald Grant for Eagle Lake. Parents, children, churches, businesses in the Black community and others responded with fundraisers and contributions. With these contributions, three and a half acres were purchased and construction of the school began in 1930 when the Rosenwald Grant was received. The school was a center for African-American activities, cultural programs, sports and events. When public schools integrated in the 1960s, the school became the Eagle Lake Middle School until a new middle school was built. The E.H. Henry High School was the only Rosenwald School in Colorado County and was a symbol of vision and progress for the community and the nation during the early 1900s.