Sumner High School | |
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The Charles H. Sumner High Building
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Location | |
4248 Cottage Avenue St. Louis, MO 63113 |
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Coordinates | 38°39′35″N 90°14′21″W / 38.6597°N 90.2391°WCoordinates: 38°39′35″N 90°14′21″W / 38.6597°N 90.2391°W |
Information | |
Type | Public high school |
Established | 1875 |
School district | St. Louis Public Schools |
Principal | Trista Harper |
Faculty | 32.0 (on FTE basis) |
Grades | 9-12 |
Enrollment | 576 (as of 2012-13) |
Student to teacher ratio | 18 |
Color(s) | Maroon and white |
Nickname | Bulldogs |
Publication | The Collegiate (defunct) |
Website | |
Charles Sumner High School
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Location | 4248 W. Cottage Ave., St. Louis, Missouri |
Area | 5.5 acres (2.2 ha) |
Built | 1908 |
Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Other, Georgian Revival |
NRHP Reference # | 88000469 |
Added to NRHP | April 19, 1988 |
Sumner High School, also known as Charles H. Sumner High School, is a St. Louis public high school that was the first high school for African-American students west of the Mississippi River. Together with Vashon High School, Sumner was one of only two segregated public high schools in St. Louis City for African-American students. Established in 1875 only after extensive lobbying by some of St. Louis' African-American residents, Sumner moved to its current location in 1908.
As of the 2012–13 school year, the school had an enrollment of 576 students and 32 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 18
Sumner High opened in 1875, the first high school opened for African Americans west of the Mississippi. The school is named after the well-known abolitionist senator Charles H. Sumner. The high school was established on Eleventh Street in St. Louis between Poplar and Spruce Street, in response to demands to provide educational opportunities, following a requirement that school boards support black education with the radical Constitution of 1865 in Missouri. The school was moved in the 1880s because parents complained that their children were walking past the city gallows and morgue on their way to school. The current structure, built in 1908, was designed by architect William B. Ittner. Sumner was the only black public high school in St. Louis City until 1927, with the opening of Vashon High School. Famous instructors include Edward Bouchet. Other later black high schools in St. Louis County were Douglass High School (opened in 1925) and Kinloch High School (1936).