- The entry for North School redirects here.
In 1881, the Fayetteville School District began looking for land somewhere north of downtown for an elementary school for White students. A public Black school, Henderson School, had been in operation since the latter 1860s, but White students had primarily attended subscription or privately taught schools both before and since the Civil War.
The board purchased a full block of land at the northwest corner of Lafayette Street and Highland Avenue and bounded by Forest Avenue and Maple street on the west and north sides. A.M. Byrnes erected a large brick school in 1885, initially named North School. Three years later, it was renamed Washington School.
It opened as the first public school for White students, establishing a segregated educational system in the city that lasted into the mid-1960s.
On Aug. 30, 1891, professor Noah Putnam Gates, who had recently left his teaching position at the Arkansas Industrial University, announced that he and fellow teachers Shelton and Stepp would open classes at the Public School Building.
The original building lasted 40 years and was replaced by the current Washington Elementary after it was built in 1930-31 by E.V. Bird Construction. It opened Feb. 16, 1931, and the students marched from the older building to the new one to mark the occasion. The earlier building was torn down soon after.
The school was fully integrated by 1967. The school district phased in integration, starting with high school and eventually adding the elementary schools.
Washington Elementary continued serving grades 1 through 8 until Hillcrest Junior High was created in 1952, and then Washington served grades 1 to 6 until middle schools were introduced.
