Forest Avenue High School, Old

The Old Forest Avenue High School (1916), constructed to serve the needs of South Dallas' burgeoning suburban communities in the first decades of the 20th century, is an excellent local example of the Italian Renaissance style and is nominated under Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the local level. In addition, it is associated with the historic context, The Development of East and South Dallas: 1872-1945. Built on the site of the Rapid Transit Railway barn, the 3-story brick school building served the growing suburban community fostered by the construction of a streetcar line through former South Dallas farmlands. Its impressive presence on Forest Avenue (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.), relatively unaltered exterior, and Italian Renaissance architectural features combine to make Forest Avenue High School a notable South Dallas landmark worthy of recognition.

Dallas' tremendous population increase in the post-depression years following the turn of the century so strained the existing school facilities that school officials began to project physical plant needs for the decades to come. In 1914 it was estimated that Dallas' high school population would increase from a projected 2,801 in 1915 to 8,902 by 1925. Suburban settlement patterns prompted the Dallas School Board president to recommend that sites in the Oak Cliff and South Dallas areas be secured for "a high school building of the standard capacity [to] be forthwith constructed, furnished and installed..." (Schiebel, 1966:56). On July 21, 1915, a building permit was issued for the new high school, which opened for classes in 1916 and held its first graduation ceremony the following year (Schiebel, 1966). The school served the established suburban communities of the Colonial Hill and South Park additions, to the west and south, and the new, prestigious Edgewood Addition (1912) that was being developed in the 2300-2700 blocks of Forest Avenue, South Blvd. and Park Row, to the northwest.

Although E. B. Cauthorn was the first principal of Forest High School, Wylie Parker, who headed the school from 1916 to 1941, is best known and well-remembered by the hundreds of students who passed through the first quarter-century at Forest Avenue High School (Dallas Public Library, vertical files). After World War II, school officials and county taxpayers approved a plan to expand the physical plant at Forest Avenue High, and in 1949 construction began on a Junior High School addition, which was a new concept for Dallas. Forest Avenue High School was to be improved so that South Dallas would have "practically a new plant," according to Dr. David W. Carter, president of the school board (Dallas Morning News, November 17, 1949). Alterations to the original exterior of the building were minimal and do not compromise the building's integrity.

While there was a great influx of people to South Dallas during the post-World War II years, it was concentrated in the growing African-American community south of Warren Avenue, and eventually, it began to have an effect on the surrounding white additions of South Park, lower Colonial Hill, and eventually to the Edgewood Addition. By 1956, Forest Avenue High School was "discontinued as a white high school", as was Silberstein Elementary (now Charles B. Rice School), three years earlier. Some of the Forest Avenue High School alumni and members of the Dad's Club of the Parent Teacher Association petitioned the school board to discontinue the school name, colors, and emblem, as well, so that they would not be associated with a "Negro" school. The school board complied with their wishes and the school was renamed James Madison High School (Dallas Times Herald, June 22, 1956). Board president, Dr. Edwin L. Rippy, said that public opinion in the area was the deciding influence in the matter (Times Herald June 21, 1956). Ironically, when students and parents requested a second name change in the 1970s to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, the Dallas school trustees refused their request and explained that they didn't rename schools for the pleasure of the public.

The first principal of James Madison High School was Dr. Thomas Tolbert, a man noted for his community involvement who still resides in the area on South Boulevard. Even though Dallas schools officially desegregated in the 1960s, James Madison High School's student body is overwhelming of African American descent. The Old Forest Avenue High School, one of Dallas' oldest surviving high school buildings, is an outstanding and well-maintained example of Italian Renaissance architecture and retains its original features to a remarkable degree. It is a prominent landmark in a predominantly residential neighborhood that is comprised of houses built in the 1910s and 1920s. Further, the school is a testament to Dallas' suburban expansion and changing demographic composition in the first half of the 20th century.

The Italian Renaissance style was a little-used architectural style in Dallas during the early 20th century, and still fewer examples have survived. The Old Forest Avenue High School is an outstanding local example of the Italian Renaissance style, and it retains its historic integrity to a high degree. While many of Dallas' other historic schools have been changed considerably since their original construction, the Old Forest Avenue High School is noteworthy for its lack of substantial changes. The 1949-50 additions are compatible with the original design and their placement to the rear has helped to preserve the building's overall historic character.