Monroe School, Topeka, Kansas, 1927.

Monroe School, Topeka, Kansas, 1927.

Designed by architect Thomas W. Williamson, this new Monroe School building opened in 1926. It included a grand auditorium. As the earliest African American school in Topeka, Kansas, Monroe first welcomed students in 1868. At one time, it was among seven Topeka grammar schools designated for African Americans. Between 1927 and 1954, Monroe, Washington, Buchanan and McKinley elementary schools comprised the city’s African American schools. After 1954, Monroe began to serve a racially integrated student body and faculty. The school closed in 1976. Today it serves as the site for the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Park. Cooper-Shepard Cox Family Collection

Cooper-Shepard Cox Family Collection

RH MS 576:3.32