Dunbar School

The Dunbar School is historically significant because: (1) it is the oldest and only remaining educational institution associated with the black community of Ardmore and (2) it is one of the few all-black elementary schools left in southern Oklahoma having been continuously used to educate young blacks from 1922 to 1968, a period of 46 years.

Ardmore was established in 1887 as a rail outlet for agricultural products when the Santa Fe extended its tracks across the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory. The area was heavily farmed, and cotton and cattle were the dominant agricultural activities. From 1890 to 1910, Ardmore's population growth was steady reaching 8,618 by shortly after statehood.

During the pre-statehood era, Ardmore attracted a sizeable black population which by 1910 had increased to 1,628, or roughly 19 percent of Ardmore's total population. According to Franklin's recent history of blacks in Oklahoma, Ardmore developed a black business district, one of about four or five in the State outside Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Ardmore's black community continued to grow during the period from 1910 to 1920 as it totaled more than 2,000 at the end of the decade. Under the provisions of the Oklahoma state constitution of 1907, separate schools for blacks and whites were to be provided by local communities. The funding for black schools, however, was different than for white schools. Black schools were allocated funds from only county tax assessments, whereas white schools were allotted funds from both school district property taxes as well as county tax levies. Based on this tax system, black schools in Oklahoma were underfunded. One of the bright spots for black education in southern Oklahoma was the all-black elementary school constructed in Ardmore in 1922. The Dunbar Elementary trained hundreds of black children during its 4.6 year history.

Situated in the black residential area of Ardmore, the Dunbar School served as a significant educational and social focal point for the black community. As a social institution, only the black churches of Ardmore were more central to the Ardmore black community than Dunbar Elementary. It was an important agent for solidifying black pride and cohesiveness during an era when Oklahoma was a segregated society.

Because of its significance to the black educational history of Ardmore, the school district remodeled the property in the 1950s and changed its name to H.F.V. Wilson to honor one of the outstanding black educators in Ardmore. Wilson had served as principal of Dunbar Elementary and later the all-black Douglass High School in Ardmore.

Since 1968, when the school operations ceased, the building has been used to house the Ardmore Head Start program which continues its educational significance to the City of Ardmore. For more than 60 years, Dunbar School has played a vital role in the educational and ethnic history of southern Oklahoma.