Richard Thomas Coles / R.T. Coles Vocational and Junior High School

Richard Thomas Coles, also, R.T. Coles Vocational and Junior High School. . , Richard Thomas Coles , (educator), Located here at 1835 Tracy, the R.T. Coles Vocational and Junior High School opened in 1936 in the building formerly occupied by Lincoln School. The school was named for Richard Thomas Coles in recognition of his previous involvement with education in Kansas City. He was a teacher and principal who introduced new methods to educate African American school children with lifetime job skills and conceived a program of industrial training that began providing instruction in skilled fields for children beginning in the fifth grade and continuing through high school. , Coles was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1859. He attended public schools in Poland, Ohio, graduated with honors from Hampton Institute and was a classmate of Booker T. Washington. Coles came to Kansas City in 1880 and taught at Lincoln School. Believing that manual training would provide a vehicle for better employment opportunities for African American students. Coles persistently petitioned the school board to initiate the program. , During his 44-year tenure as an educator, Coles was principal of the Pleasant Green School (later known as Garrison School). Students at Garrison School wee trained in trades that included carpentry, house painting and blacksmithing for boys; and cooking, dressmaking and millinery for girls. Manual training courses later became available for adults. Coles was also instrumental in finding employment for students after completion of the program. , Coles remained principal at Garrison until his death in 1930. The Kansas City School Board honored Coles in 1936 for his illustrious career as an educator when the R.T. Coles Vocational and Junior High School was named in his honor., R.T. Coles Vocational and Junior High School, The R.T. Coles Vocational and Junior High School opened in 1936 and offered general shop classes and industrial training programs in the following areas: sheet and wrought iron metal work, shoe conditioning, machine woodworking and ceramics. Several clubs also were established including the Creative English Club, Camera Club, Civics Club and Choral Club. Trade certificates were offered in beauty culture, institutional cookery, tailoring, sewing, auto mechanics, building maintenance, electricity and masonry., The first principal of the R.T. Coles School was Earl D. Thomas, a native of Kansas City, Kansas. He attended the University of Chicago and then came to Kansas City, Missouri to teach industrial arts. Thomas served as a teacher and administrator in the Kansas City, Missouri school district for 35 years, first at R.T. Coles School and later at Lincoln High School. , In July, 1954 following Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, the Kansas City School Board made the decision to desegregate its school system beginning with the 1954-1955 academic school year. The vocational division of R.T. Coles School was transferred to Manual and Vocational School. R.T. Coles School then became a junior high school serving seventh and eighth grade students., However, R.T. Coles School had been for nearly twenty years the only vocational and junior high school in the city that provided African American students educational skills in industrial and manual training, which created better employment opportunities. The school closed in 1956 and was demolished in 1965.