A St. Louis preservation organization is pushing for north St. Louis’ Sumner High School to receive a National Historic Landmark designation through the National Park Service.
Members of Protect, Restore, Forever, Celebrate Sumner Inc., want to preserve Sumner's rich history and legacy because it is the first high school west of the Mississippi River to graduate African American students. Sumner High School has been in existence for 150 years.
“Currently, it is the only African American high school that was built over 100 years ago that's still standing,” said Patricia Murray, co-founder of PRFC Sumner Inc. and a Sumner alum. “That structure at 4248 W. Cottage was built in 1910, so that building is 115 years old; no other African American high school in the country can claim that.”
Murray and other alumni founded the organization in 2020 after the St. Louis School Board of Education weighed closing the high school due to low enrollment and grade point averages to ultimately save money for the district. Some alumni pitched the idea to save Sumner by making it a National Historic Landmark. The district’s previous superintendent liked the idea and advised them to pursue it.
The organization has been actively pushing toward the designation but has faced financial setbacks, which have slowed down the nomination process. Now, the group is renewing its push for more community support since the building sustained major damage in the May 16 tornado.
Murray said getting a national designation would make Sumner protected by the federal government, and if the school board continues its ownership of the building, the group could petition the government for grants and other preservation funding.
“Even if they close the school (and not sell it), that wouldn't stop Sumner from still becoming a National Historic Landmark,” she said, “But if they close the school down — which that's what I'm afraid is going to happen — or let it fall down and don't fix anything and just let it sit there and rot, then we got nothing. You can't nominate a building that's not there.”
Charles Sumner High School was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1988 for its architecture. But this designation only has local significance. It does not automatically qualify it to become a National Historic Landmark.
PRFC Sumner Inc. co-founder Michael Blackshear presented the organization’s historic landmark proposal to the school board on Aug. 26 to help the newest members and Superintendent Millicent Borishade better understand their fight for the landmark status.
“What we're trying to do is to elevate that to a national landmark designation, so that the United States federal government sees it as a major contributor to the history of what went on in America as it relates to the education of Black people in the Ville,” Blackshear said.
Blackshear said the group is attempting to get as many organizations and agencies on board with the plan as possible.
PRFC Sumner Inc. recently received a $28,000 grant from the National Park Service to help hire a nomination writer for the project. That writer would produce research and submit two applications on behalf of Sumner High School. However, the group says it needs about another $70,000 to afford the writer. Murray said to push the efforts forward, they need support from the school board and the community to prove the school’s national significance to the state and then the federal level. The entire process could take up to five years.
If Sumner becomes a national landmark, it can still operate as a school. There are other functioning schools across the nation listed as historic landmarks, including Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
People tour the first school to integrate its school with Black students all the time, and it generates money for the district and city, and that could be the same for St. Louis, Murray said.
“It's a benefit for everyone, and it will put St Louis on the map to have the first African American high school named a National Historic Landmark,” she said. “So, it's a win-win here, if we can get everybody on board.”
