Eureka School - Hattiesburg, MS Restoration & Renewal

The 

							historic Eureka School was designated as a 

							Mississippi landmark in 2005 and serves as the core 

							of history and heritage of the African Americans in 

							the Hattiesburg community. When it opened in 1921, 

							it was one of only two high schools for African 

							Americans in the state. 
 
The Eureka High School was 

							constructed on the site of the first school in 

							Hattiesburg for African Americans -- “the red frame 

							school on East 6th Street.” In the 1919-20 school 

							term, a $75,000 bond issue provided for construction 

							of the new building for grades 1 through 12. School 

							opened in September 1921 in what was said to be the 

							second modern, brick facility in Mississippi for 

							education of African Americans. The school was 

							dedicated with the name Eureka in lieu of any 

							community consensus for another name. 
 
Eureka was a union school housing 

							grades 1 through 12 from 1921 to 1949, where W.H. 

							Jones was the first principal. As many who attended 

							Eureka have said, Eureka was not only a union 

							school, it was the unifying element and most 

							significant educational and social resource of the 

							African American community during the 1921-49 

							period. Student enrollment grew from approximately 

							800 students in 1940 to 1,400 students in 1947. This 

							overcrowding was relieved in 1949 with the opening 

							of the new Royal Street – later named Rowan – High 

							School. Eureka School Administrators included J.W. 

							Addison, E.L. Washburn, Edward Tademy, N.R. Burger, 

							Jessie Patrick, Hollie Leggett, Della Ruth Jones and 

							Stave Weathersby. 
 
Eureka continued as an elementary 

							school until 1987. Under a new desegregation plan 

							for elementary schools approved at that time, the 

							Eureka campus was closed as an elementary school and 

							became a Community Education Center. As such, Eureka 

							housed a variety of education programs, including 

							adult and community education, as well as a number 

							of district services. Clara Weathersby was the 

							director of the center. A portion of the space at 

							Eureka was devoted to the sole use of EURO, the 

							Eureka-Royal Street-Rowan Alumni Association, which 

							maintains a Heritage Room there today. 
 
The Community Education Center was 

							closed in the mid-1990s, but other educational 

							organizations such as HELP, an adult education and 

							literacy program, and a computer training program 

							continued to operate there. Today, EURO is the main 

							user of the space. EURO sponsored the placement of a 

							state historical marker on the campus.