Belle Glade in Palm Beach County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)

Lake Shore High School

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, July 11, 2023

1. Lake Shore High School Marker Side 1

Inscription.
Side 1
In the 1940s, during the era of segregation, children of color living in Belle Glade attended Everglades Vocational High School, which served grades 1-12. In 1955, the school was renamed Lake Shore High School and served grades 7-12. Titusville native and Florida A&M College graduate Charles M. McCurdy served as Lake Shore’s first and only principal. With its mascot, the Mighty Bobcats (The Mucksteppers), the school provided an educational opportunity for African American children to dream and realize a different future. It served Belle Glade and small feeder communities, including Ritta, Watson Quarters, Lake Harbor, Bean City, South Shore, South Bay, Okeechobee Center and Raidersville. Belle Glade public schools integrated in 1970, sixteen years after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. Lake Shore merged with the former white only high school, Belle Glade High School. Due to his race, McCurdy was deemed unfit to be principal of the integrated Glades Central High School, and was demoted. In 1974, he went to court to challenge the Palm Beach County School Board’s actions, and won. He was instated

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as principal, but McCurdy’s career was cut short with his untimely death in 1975.

Side 2
SCHOOL SONG
Dear Lake Shore High, Thy name we’ll adore Thy walls and halls forever more To thee we’ll pledge our loyalty We’ll strive for thee eternally School of our dreams We’ll always be true May God protect what e’er you do Dear Lake Shore High, long may you stand In this our country, this our land
A Florida Heritage Site

Erected 2020 by Lake Shore School Legacy Park Memorial, LLC, McCurdy Senior Housing Cooperation, and the Florida Department of State. (Marker Number F-1142.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Education. A significant historical year for this entry is 1955.

Location. 26° 40.954′ N, 80° 40.739′ W. Marker is in Belle Glade, Florida, in Palm Beach County. It is on Southwest Martin Luther King Boulevard just west of Southwest 10th Street, on the left when traveling east. Marker is in small park west of the remnants of the school. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 306 Southwest 10th Street, Belle Glade FL 33430, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally,

Lake Shore High School Marker Side 2 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, July 11, 2023

2. Lake Shore High School Marker Side 2

this marker is in South Florida,

on the Gold Coast,

on the Treasure Coast,

and in Greater Miami.

It is also in the American South.

Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 3 other markers are within 13 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Belle Glade 1928 (approx. 0.6 miles away); Everglades Research (approx. 3.1 miles away); Conners’ Toll Highway (approx. 13.1 miles away).

Also see . . . Legacy Park. (Submitted on July 16, 2023, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida.)

Lake Shore High School Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, July 11, 2023

3. Lake Shore High School Marker

Lake Shore High School remaining building image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, July 11, 2023

4. Lake Shore High School remaining building

Credits. This page was last revised on July 16, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 16, 2023, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. This page has been viewed 867 times since then and 65 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on July 16, 2023, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida.