Immanuel High School

Immanuel High School. School District #73. The Immanuel Industrial Institute, a rural boarding school, was established in 1910 by the White River District Association of Missionary Baptist Churches to educate the African American children of the White River District. The first building was erected on the land purchased from Moses Katz and his wife for $200.00. The first structure for Immanuel Industrial Institute was a two-story wood frame building. The lower level consisted of classrooms, a chapel, dining room and a kitchen. The upstairs was a dormitory for the women teachers and female students. The second building was a four-room cottage used to house the men and boys. The Immanuel Industrial Institute student population reached as many as 100 students during its first decade of existence. Some of the surrounding communities transported students by horse and wagons and others on the back of trucks. Many of the students walked to school. The students that lived in the dormitory were able to pay for their schooling by working on Immanuel’s 40-acre farm. The two main industries of the school were a broom factory and a blacksmith shop. The curriculum included blacksmithing, carpentry, broom-making, painting, upholstery, art, music and the humanities. , In 1923, P. A. Garrison, N. A. Johnson and S. E. Ryan, legal trustees, deeded two acres of the forty to the public school system for an African American public school site on which a Rosenwald building was erected, creating School District Number 70. In 1947, the Arkansas County Court dissolved School Districts No. 61 and No. 72 and annexed their territory to Immanuel. This paved the way for the formation of Arkansas County School District 73, creating Immanuel High School. During the 1950s, Immanuel’s enrollment reached as many as 506 students. In 1966 District No. 73 and the Immanuel High School were dissolved. The administrators of the Immanuel School from opening until closing were: P. A. Garrison, H. Drier, D. B. Marshall, C. C. Butler, Miles Butler, Henry Wright, J. Kent, L. R. McNeil, J. H. Bankhead, O. B. Elders, Sr., Brooks Williams, Jesse Mason, L. G. Standfield, Elijah Coleman, A. Tate, L. Harris, Marie Fowler, J. S. Clemmons, E. E. Bogan, M. C. Arrant, F. W. Smith, P. G. Faison, Timothy Young, Clyde O’Neal, and Johnnie Phillips. In 1978, Immanuel Christian School was opened under the leadership of Rev. Thomas Phillips and his wife Pauline. The Christian School closed in 1989.