Citizen Communication - Montopolis Negro School NRHP Registration Form — original pdf

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NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 expiration date 03/31/2022 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. Name of Property Historic name: The Montopolis Negro School Other names/site number: The Montopolis School for Negro Children, The Colorado Negro School No. 1, Burditt's Prairie School, Montopolis Elementary School Name of related multiple property listing: N/A ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: 500 Montopolis Drive City or town: Austin State: TX County: Travis Not For Publication: N/A Vicinity: ☐ ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property _X_ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide _X__local Applicable National Register Criteria: _X_A ___B ___C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date State Historic Preservation Officer Texas Historical Commission __________________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government _____________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: Page 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register Travis/Texas County and State other (explain:) _____________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property X X Private Public – Local Public - State Public - Federal Category of Property X Building(s) District Site Structure Object Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 Buildings Sites Structures Objects Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register: None _________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions: EDUCATION/School, SOCIAL: Meeting Hall Current Functions: VACANT/Not In Use Page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property _____________________________________________________________________________ Travis/Texas County and State 7. Description Architectural Classification: Late 19th and early 20th Century American Movements: Craftsman Principal Exterior Materials: WOOD (wooden sheathing with corrugated metal covering) ______________________________________________________________________________ 8. Statement of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria X A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. C D Areas of Significance: EDUCATION, ETHNIC HERITAGE/African American Criteria Considerations: N/A Period of Significance: 1891-1962 Significant Dates: 1891 Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked): N/A Cultural Affiliation (Complete only if Criterion D is marked): N/A Architect/Builder: Unknown ______________________________________________________________________________ 9. Major Bibliographic References Bibliography: (see continuation sheet) Previous documentation on file (NPS): ____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested ____ previously listed in the National Register ____ previously determined eligible by the National Register ____ designated a National Historic Landmark ____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #____________ ____ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________ ____ recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ___________ Primary location of additional data: ____ State Historic Preservation Office ____ Other State agency ____ Federal agency Page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property ____ Local government ____ University __x__ Other — Specify Repository: Montopolis CDC Archives Travis/Texas County and State Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): N/A ______________________________________________________________________________ 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property: Approximately 1.82 acres Latitude/Longitude Coordinates Datum if other than WGS84: N/A 1. Latitude: 30° 14.433'N Longitude: 97° 41.644'W Verbal Boundary Description: The nominated property includes the 1.82 acre lot the St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church transferred to George S. Matthews, Travis County Judge, on April 18, 1935 in consideration of the sum of $300, with the written stipulation that the site could only ever be utilized for school purposes (Travis County Deed Records, Vol. 520, Page 380). Boundary Justification: The nomination includes the property historically associated with the building, including its associated cultural landscape and Traditional Cultural Property. ______________________________________________________________________________ 11. Form Prepared By Name/title: Fred L. McGhee, Ph.D., with assistance from Diana Hernandez, Anisha Kamat and Isabelle Nance Organization: Montopolis Community Development Corporation Street & number: 2316 Thrasher Lane City or town: Austin Email: fmcghee@montopolis.org Telephone: (512) 275-6027 Date: May 2021 ______________________________________________________________________________ Zip code: 78741-6622 State: Texas Additional Documentation Maps: (see continuation sheet 12 through 19) Additional Items: N/A Photographs: (see continuation sheet 20 through 31) Page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Maps Map 1 Map 2 Map 3 Map 4 Map 5 Map 6 Map 7 Map 8 Photographs Property Location October 2, 2014 Aerial Image November 22, 2019 Aerial Image Historical locations of Travis County African-American Rural Schools Travis CADProperty Boundary Map March 1932 Topographic and Road Map of Travis County 1936 (Revised 1940) Highway Map of Travis County Condemnation of the St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church by the Austin City Council Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County All photographs by Fred L. McGhee except as noted Photo 1 Southeast oblique, camera facing northwest Photo 7 Drone photo facing westward Photo 2 West elevation fronting Montopolis Drive Photo 8 Main classroom, chalkboard view, facing south Photo 3 Northwest Oblique view, camera facing southeast Photo 9 Main classroom, chalkboard view, facing south Photo 4 Northeast Oblique view, drone facing southwest Photo 10 Southward view of main classroom by front entrance Photo 5 1952 addition, camera facing north by northeast Photo 6 Drone photo facing south Photo 11 Interior view of door and step to the rear classrom, westward view Photo 12 Storage area at the rear of the building, northward face. Page 5 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Narrative Description Travis/Texas County and State The Montopolis Negro School, located at 500 Montopolis Drive, is situated in an urbanizing semi-rural setting approximately 150 feet south of where St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church once stood. The building is a one or two teacher Craftsman-inspired minimalist structure that oral tradition holds was once an army barracks building. The building is linear in design and sits on a foundation consisting of short brick and concrete piers and features the corrugated metal gable roof, overhanging eaves and exposed rafter ends typical of what the Department of Defense terms "Bungalow" buildings.1 Exterior east facing 8/8 window banks have been covered with corrugated metal, as has a rear entrance near the south elevation also featuring a wood framed 6/6 window. The interior of the school has two main rooms, including a medium sized classroom facing a chalkboard mounted on the buildings north interior wall, a larger classroom separated by a partition, and a similarly separated cloakroom/industrial room. The interior walls of the building's southern end are covered with rough sawn vertical interior wall sheathing made of wood. Modifications include interior renovations that were added between 1952 and 1955 including electrical wiring, gas heating, lunchroom and kitchen space, as well as the installation of a brick addition containing a bathroom with showers connected by a covered exterior patio made of matching corrugated metal. Even though the building's mostly wooden exterior was covered up with corrugated metal sheathing during its brief operation as a church in the 1970's, it overall retains a high degree of integrity of location, setting, feeling, association, design, materials and workmanship. The schoolhouse is located in the Montopolis/Burditt's Prairie community on 1.82 acres originally donated by the adjacent St. Edwards Baptist Church after the original school was destroyed by a storm in 1935.2 The overall footprint of the building is linear in shape and is longitudinally oriented along a north/south axis, with the addition connected to the rear, along the building's westward face. The main building is about 92 feet long and 26 feet wide, and the addition measures approximately 20 feet long and 15 feet wide. The interior consists of an open floor plan with partitions and a non-load bearing wall located near the middle, creating two rooms. The (now) exposed 2x6 stud framing is sixteen inches on center, with both horizontal as well as vertical wall sheathing. The floor to ceiling height is approximately ten feet. The school was renovated when Montopolis was annexed by the City of Austin in 1952. A second classroom was installed in the building and a lunchroom station was added. A small brick bathroom addition was also added, connected by a covered patio. These renovations were completed on November 18, 1952 and cost $2,184. According to Austin ISD records, the school was "abandoned" in 1961 and was eventually closed officially in March of 1962.3 The school site was purchased in 1967 and was converted into the Montopolis Church of Christ by the new owners. The primary changes they made was to add sheet metal cladding to the exterior of the building and to add cosmetic religious writing near the entrance. The church sold the property to a developer in 2015, who sought to demolish and increase the land entitlements on the real estate. The Montopolis community led a coalition of school alumni, historic preservationists, environmental advocates, anti-gentrification activists and others in a campaign to historically preserve the school as a community center and museum. After protracted community advocacy in favor of preserving the historic school as a community asset, the City of Austin eventually acquired the property in 2018. Without community consultation, city officials made the decision Michael and Smith, The Architecture of the Department of Defense, p. 47. The school lot is now about 0.852 acres in size, having been subdivided several times over the years (City 1 2 of Austin Original Petition for Condemnation, Probate Court No. 1, Travis County, TX, 27 July, 2018). 3 School" file no. aisdcm0000787. Austin Independent School District School Plant Records—Land Facilities, "Montopolis Elementary Page 6 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Travis/Texas Name of Property County and State to "mothball" the school building. They made extensive alterations to the building’s interior in 2019, including removing an eight foot drop ceiling and many of the interior wall boards, disassembling the building's electrical wiring and light fixtures, taking out gas fixtures and air conditioning units, as well as removing desks, pews, rugs, maps, a podium and other furniture. The locks were also changed and the window exteriors were boarded up with metal. A barbed wire fence was also installed around the building.4 A metal shipping/storage container has been sitting along the south wall adjacent to the building since 2019. The community was told all of the furniture and interior contents of the building were moved into the storage container. During a January 2021 visit to the mothballed school, Montopolis community leaders and scholars were informed that the key to the container has been lost, and were thus unable to inspect its contents. As the attached photos indicate, there are trees growing around the school building, but these are not considered contributing. The overall 1.82 acre landscape, however, is a historic vernacular landscape as well as an ethnographic landscape as discussed in Preservation Brief No. 36, as well as a Traditional Cultural Property as defined in National Register Bulletin No. 38. It played an instrumental educational and community role during the property's period of significance as the site of baseball games, Juneteenth celebrations, barbecues, May Pole dances, and holiday gatherings. The site also continues to resonate as one of the more scenic and photogenic landscapes where Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) and other wildflowers bloom every spring. Most of the nominated landscape remains intact, but starting in 2019 the northern boundary is now fenced and homesteaded, and the northwestern portion sold. Nonetheless, over 95 percent of the original property deeded by St. Edward's Baptist Church in 1935 is currently in public hands. Statement of Significance The Montopolis Negro School was established in about 1891 and was operated as a segregated one-room schoolhouse by Travis County until 1952, when responsibility for the school's operation was transferred to the Austin Free Public Schools (the precursor to the Austin Independent School District) upon the annexation of the Village of Montopolis by the City of Austin. The school is historically significant for its long association with the development of education, African American culture, and civic life in southeastern Travis County, and the Burditt's Prairie Freedmen's Community. The property has also functioned as the community's venue for important public gatherings and social events such as holiday celebrations, baseball games, May Pole Dances, Juneteenth celebrations and other civic events. The building and the landscape associated with it do not just constitute a physical reminder of the legacy of Jim Crow education in the South but are also indicative of African-American initiative, self-help and community empowerment in response to the systemic racism that characterized most aspects of life in Travis County during the period of significance. The Montopolis settlement, located in south east Austin along the Colorado River, was established in 1830 as a small frontier community that its settlers eventually hoped would serve as the new capital of the Republic of Texas. Those dreams never came to fruition, as the town of Waterloo, later Austin, became the capital in 1839 instead. Their more grandiose hopes extinguished, settlers at Montopolis turned to plantation agriculture as a substitute. One such settler was Jesse F. Burditt, who established a plantation in 1844 that would serve as the namesake for the Freedmen's community that would develop during and after the Civil War. Many of the formerly enslaved African Americans who worked on his and other plantations eventually became sharecroppers by the turn of the 20th century and their children would end up attending the "Burditt's Prairie School" as the school was originally called. According to African American folklorist, educator and community leader J. Mason Brewer, education in Burditt's Prairie (i.e. Montopolis) dates back to about 1875, when the St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church, the oldest African-American Baptist church in Travis County still in continuous operation, established the Burditt's Prairie School at the church. Originally organized in 1863 in the home of Rose Edwards, an enslaved African American on the Jesse Burditt Plantation, the original church building was erected east of the Burditt Prairie Cemetery in 1868. The Burditt’s Prairie School appears in a school list for 1882-1883. 5 4 5 and stout" J. Mason Brewer, An Historical Outline of the Negro in Travis County (1940: 19). Memorandum from Sara Hensley, Austin Parks Director, to the Austin City Council, March 6, 2019. "Burditt's Prairie first had schools for Negroes about 1875. Some of the first teachers were: Banton, Hollis Page 7 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State The Montopolis Negro School was established by Travis County as the "Colorado Negro School No. 1" around 1891 and is one of 40 rural African American schools once operated by the county. It is the last remaining such school left standing and has served as a pillar of the segregated Montopolis community since its founding. The St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church eventually moved to a location at 400 Montopolis Drive in 1897. A replacement church was constructed there using building materials from the original church and was completed in about 1903. At the 1900 census Montopolis was a rural agricultural area mainly populated by African-American cotton plantation workers. The population at the time was enumerated at 142 persons. The area had two county operated schools, one for whites which had 9 pupils and the Montopolis Negro School for 108 segregated black students. The school's original location was along Bastrop Highway, as shown on the 1932 map of Travis County (See map number 3). In 1935 the original Negro school building, as well as several white schools, were destroyed in a storm. In a sign of a clear racial double standard, the Travis County Judge (a former Klansman) with the support of the Commissioners Court rebuilt the white schools but refused to rebuild or replace the school in Montopolis, leaving Black students without education. Realizing the untenability of the situation, the congregation of Montopolis' St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church agreed to donate land adjacent to the church for a replacement school and also secured a former army barracks building to serve as a replacement one-room schoolhouse.6 The March 12, 1935 transfer deed for the 1.82 acre property specifically stipulated that the site could only ever be utilized for "school purposes only." The City of Austin annexed the Village of Montopolis in 1952. As a result, approximately one-third of the Travis County operated Colorado No. 36 school district was annexed by the Austin Free Public Schools, the precursor to the Austin Independent School District. The annexation included the Montopolis School for Negro Children. According to Austin ISD records, the school was "abandoned" in 1961 and was eventually closed officially in March of 1962. After closing the school Austin ISD did not return the property back to St. Edward's Baptist Church. It instead placed the 1.82 acre property up for auction. The property was eventually purchased by Ross and David Willhoite in 1967 for $5,102. The Willhoites converted the school building into the Montopolis Church of Christ and established a trust to run it, which accounts for the religious wording adorning the building. The church congregation was never large and by the mid 1980's only existed on paper. Over the years the owners allowed sporadic community access to the school building and its environs, particularly for a Burditt’s Prairie School reunion held in 2000, but for more than four decades the building mostly sat fallow. In 1987 the Austin City Council passed an eminent domain ordinance7 condemning the St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church to build a road connecting Grove Boulevard with Montopolis Drive, but the road was never built. In 2015 the KEEP Investment Group, an Austin based real estate development concern, purchased the Montopolis Negro School property from David Wilhoite and formulated a plan to develop the original 1.82 acres by partnering with the City of Austin by acquiring the condemned property, demolishing the school building, and upzoning the reconstituted lot. When the community learned of the developer's plans, it mobilized in opposition. The political battle regarding the site's future took more than three years, but ultimately resulted in the city utilizing its eminent domain power to acquire the school property, with the exception of a .18 acre segment fronting Kemp St. that was acquired and developed by Black Dot Builders, a business partner of the KEEP Investment Group. This is the only present encroachment on the historical landscape comprising the nominated property. Brief Historic Context Oral tradition claims that the army barracks building procured by the church for use as a school came from 6 Camp Swift in Bastrop County, but this cannot be correct as Camp Swift was not established until 1942. The true provenance of the building remains an open research question. 7 Austin City Council ordinance 870122-03, "St. Edwards Baptist Church." Page 8 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Travis/Texas Name of Property County and State As in other southern states, compulsory public education for all children, also known as the "free and common school" in Texas was a product of Reconstruction. The 1869 Texas constitution established the office of a statewide Superintendent of Public Instruction and provided for the legislature to divide the state into school districts with school boards that were empowered to raise taxes to fund the schools. The constitution also explicitly stated, for the first time, that education was to be free for all inhabitants of the state between the ages of six and eighteen, regardless of sex or race. The end of Reconstruction changed this. The "Redemption" constitution of 1876 abolished the office of state superintendent, established a board of education composed of the governor, comptroller, and secretary of state, eliminated compulsory attendance, and made no provision for school taxes. It also removed the provisions regarding the equal education of girls and set up the replacement system of education on a segregated basis. African Americans deplored these changes. Between 1873 and 1893 at Black state conventions, the African American community met to voice its concerns about the education system for Black children. One of the most significant gatherings occurred in Austin in 1884 where the state Colored Teachers Association advocated for quality education for Blacks and better working conditions for teachers.8 Rural African American schools were usually organized with one or two teachers who taught grades one through eight in the same one-room schoolhouse. Many of the buildings declared as "schools" were actually not designed for educational purposes—8 percent were rented structures.9 In regards to school funding, white schools received 94.5 of funding compared to 6 percent for black schools in 1929. Montopolis Negro School Timeline Milestone Burditt's Prairie School established St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church moves to donated land at 408 Montopolis Drive. The new building is constructed out of recycled materials from the original church building built in 1868 east of the Burditt Prairie Cemetery. The Montopolis School for Negro Children is established on Bastrop Highway The original one room school building located on Bastrop Highway is destroyed by a storm. St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church donates 1.82 acres of land at the school's present location on Montopolis Drive. An old Army barracks building is procured and renovated to serve as a replacement school. City of Austin begins annexing Montopolis Colorado School District 36 transfers the school to the Austin Free Public Schools Year circa 1875 1897- 1903 circa 1891 1935 1952 Nov. 1952 Source Brewer, Historical Outline, 1940 Burditt's Prairie Reunion book, 2000 Burditt's Prairie Reunion book, 2000 Burditt's Prairie Reunion book, 2000, Travis County Deed Records Vol. 520, p. 280 Austin's Montopolis Neighborhood, p. 7- 8 Travis County Deed Records Vol. 1297, p. 401 1952- The school building is renovated and supplied with new equipment and a new Burditt's Prairie Vernon McDaniel, “Teachers State Association of Texas,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 8 25, 2021, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/teachers-state-association-of-texas. 9 Negro education 16, no. 3 (July 1, 1947): 425–432. Bullock, Henry. “The Availability of Education in the Texas Negro Separate School.” The Journal of Page 9 1955 1955 March 1962 1963- 164 Aug. 1967 Dec. 1968 Nov. 1970 Aug. 1987 1990 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State room is added to the building that serves as a classroom and lunchroom. The new room also has toilets and showers obviating the need for an outhouse. Reunion book, 2000 The Austin Free Public Schools constructs and opens Allison Elementary School. In keeping with policy, the school is segregated. Austin's Montopolis Neighborhood, p. 48 The Austin Independent School District officially ceases operating the Montopolis Negro School. Burditt's Prairie Reunion book, 2000 The Austin ISD places the Montopolis Negro School up for auction and starts receiving bids. May 11, 1964 Austin ISD minutes Austn ISD accepts the bid of O.A. Willhoite for the school property. The winning bid was $5,201. July 26, 1967 Austin ISD minutes Property is deeded to the Montopolis Church of Christ with Ross and David Willhoite as Trustees. Travis County Deed Records Vol. 3604, p. 1244 Travis County Deed Records Vol. 3953, p. 725 Travis County Deed Records Vol. 10395, p. 414 Travis County Deed Records 2015037818 May 3, 2021 memo from Kimberly McNeely, Parks Director, to Austin City Council The City of Austin secures road easements through the property. Ross and David Willhoite deed .740 acres of the original 1.82 acre tract to the City of Austin. City of Austin condemns the original church property. The church moves to its present location at 702 Montopolis Drive. Burditt's Prairie Reunion Book, 2000 March 2015 David Willhoite sells the property to Austin Stowell of the KEEP Investment group. 2018 Following a protracted preservation fight by the Montopolis Community, the City of Austin acquires the property Montopolis community records 2019- present City officials “mothball” the property and erect a barbed wire fence around the school building. A “planning process” is announced, slated for 2022 Bibliography Commission, 2014. “African American Rural Schools of Travis County.” African American Rural Schools. Travis County Historical Anna Victoria Wilson, “Education For African Americans,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 23, 2021. Bullock, Henry. “The Availability of Education in the Texas Negro Separate School.” The Journal of Negro Education 16, no. 3 (July 1, 1947): 425–432. City of Austin Original Petition for Condemnation, Probate Court No. 1, Travis County, TX, 27 July, 2018). Page 10 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Dulaney, W. Marvin. "Freedom Colonies: Independent African American Communities in Post–Civil War Texas." In The SAGE Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America, edited by Shujaa, Mwalimu J., and Kenya J. Shujaa, 416-18. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2015. Travis/Texas County and State McDavid, Carol, Rachel Feit, Kenneth L. Brown, and Fred L. McGhee. "African American Archaeology in Texas: A Planning Document. Prepared for the Texas Historical Commission by the Community Archaeology Research Institute, Inc., June, 2013. McGhee, Fred L. Austin’s Montopolis Neighborhood. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2014. McGhee, Fred L. The Black Crop: Slavery and Slave Trading in Nineteenth Century Texas. Austin, TX: Fidelitas Publishing. Mears, Michelle M. And Grace Will Lead Me Home : African American Freedmen Communities of Austin, Texas, 1865-1928. Lubbock, Tex: Texas Tech University Press, 2009. Michael, Michelle and Adam Smith The Architecture of the Department of Defense: A Military Style Guide, prepared for the DoD Legacy Resource Management Program, Washington, DC. Miller, Norman Theodore. “A Visual Screening Survey of Five Travis County Negro Schools.” Thesis (M. Ed.)-- University of Texas, 1955. University Press, 1971. Rice, Lawrence D. The Negro in Texas, 1874-1900 [by] Lawrence D. Rice. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Sitton, Thad, and James H. Conrad. 2005. Freedom Colonies : Independent Black Texans in the Time of Jim Crow. Austin: University of Texas Press. State Convention of Colored Men of Texas (1883 : Austin, TX), “Proceedings of the State Convention of Colored Men of Texas, Held at the City of Austin, July 10-12, 1883.,” Colored Conventions Project Digital Records, accessed March 25, 2021, https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/1128. Page 11 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Page 12 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State October 2, 2014 Aerial Image Page 13 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State November 22, 2019 Aerial Image Page 14 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Historical locations of Travis County African-American Rural Schools Page 15 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Travis Central Appraisal District Property Boundary Map Page 16 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State March 1932 Topographic and Road Map of Travis County showing locations of the white and Negro schools Page 17 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State 1936 (Revised 1940) Highway Map of Travis County showing the location of St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church Page 18 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Condemnation of the St. Edward's Missionary Baptist Church by the Austin City Council Page 19 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographer: Jana Birchum, July 2018 Photo 1 Southwest Oblique view Travis/Texas County and State Page 20 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographer: Fred L. McGhee, June 2013 Photo 2 West elevation fronting Montopolis Drive Travis/Texas County and State Page 21 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographer: Fred L. McGhee, June 2013 Photo 3 Northwest Oblique view, camera facing southeast Travis/Texas County and State Page 22 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographer: Fred L. McGhee, May 2021 Photo 4 Northeast Oblique view, drone facing southwest Page 23 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographers: Diana Hernandez, Anisha Kamat and Isabelle Nance, February 2021 Photo 5 1952 addition, camera facing north by northeast Page 24 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographers: Fred L. McGhee, May 2021 Photo 6 Drone photo facing south Page 25 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographers: Fred L. McGhee, May 2021 Photo 7 Drone photo facing westward Page 26 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographers: Diana Hernandez, Anisha Kamat and Isabelle Nance, February 2021 Travis/Texas County and State Photo 8 Main classroom, chalkboard view, facing south Page 27 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographer: Peter Simonite, May 2015 Photo 9 Main classroom, chalkboard view, facing south Travis/Texas County and State Page 28 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographer: Peter Simonite, May 2015 Photo 10 Southward view of main classroom by front entrance Travis/Texas County and State Page 29 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographer: Peter Simonite, May 2015 Photo 11 Interior view of door and step to the rear classrom, westward view Page 30 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB Control No. 1024-0018 The Montopolis Negro School Name of Property Travis/Texas County and State Montopolis Negro School Austin, Travis County, TX Photographer: Peter Simonite, May 2015 Photo 12 Storage area at the rear of the building, northward face. 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