Historical Marker

Tarver School

Records show a school for African American students in Del Rio was organized as early as 1901, closing in the 1920s. Del Rio ISD used part of a 1929-30 bond package to build a one-room stucco exterior school on Ware Street. The school, first known as Brackenridge, had few books or equipment, often using materials discarded from other schools. Typically, each grade included just a few students. In the 1950s, the faculty numbered one principal and three teachers. A building moved in from Laughlin Air Force Base was divided into junior and senior high grades. When Principal W. H. Tarver died, the school was renamed in his honor. With the end of segregation, the school closed in 1957.