Silberstein, Ascher, School

The Ascher Silberstein School, now Charles B. Rice School, is an impressive Renaissance Revival-style school building in South Dallas and is nominated under a criterion in the area of Architecture. The school, which is associated with the historic context, The Development of East and South Dallas: 1872-1945, was built in 1922 to serve the growing suburban residential communities of the lower Colonial Hill additions in far South Dallas. Silberstein School has changed little from its construction and retains its original appearance and architectural fabric to a high degree. The name change, which honored an early African-American Dallas educator, occurred in 1953 as a result of the school board's designation of the building as a "Negro" school. The change was a response to the racial transition that took place in South Dallas when the African-American communities to the north, east and south began to expand into the area in the post-war era prompting many white families to move. A new Silberstein School was constructed on Hollis Road in 1956 and the former Silberstein School continues to serve neighborhood students as Charles B. Rice School.

By 1921, the City of Dallas had already outgrown its 1915 city limits and was expanding into the suburban lands that included the lower Colonial Hill additions to Hatcher Street and eastward to the semi-rural additions along Pine Street in far South Dallas. The need for elementary schools surpassed available facilities, and in 1921 eight portable frame buildings were installed in the block northwest of the current school site until a permanent school could be constructed. The portable buildings already bore the name "Silberstein School" according to 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Sanborn maps 1922, and Schiebel, 1966: 58). Ascher Silberstein, for whom the school was named, was a Dallas businessman who emigrated from Germany after the Civil War and arrived in Dallas about 1878. He eventually became vice president of the Dallas Oil and Refining Co. At his death in 1909, Silberstein left $5,000 to the Dallas Public Schools to be used for public school purposes. His widow, Rosa Silberstein, operated a nursery school in the Colonial Hill area and may have been responsible for having the Silberstein portable buildings erected and named for her husband (City directories and Dallas Public Library, vertical files).

The 1922 Sanborn maps that depicted the portable buildings also showed Block 1738 B set aside for a school building. The current brick building was erected about 1923 and first appears in the city directories in 1924, with E.G. Gafton as its first principal. Frances Jewell was one of the longest-serving principals serving the school from the mid-1930s through the 1940s (Sanborn map, 1922, and city directories, var.). In 1953, after many of the white families moved to other areas of Dallas, the school was designated for "Negroes" by the school board. The name of the school was changed to honor Charles B. Rice, who had been the principal of Wright Cuney School ("Colored School No. 1") from 1902 until 1908, and Booker T. Washington School ("Colored School No. 2") from 1908 through 1913. (Schiebel, 1966: 243-253). Floyd F. Wilkerson served as the first principal of Charles B. Rice School after its designation as a "Negro" school (City directories).

A new school for white students opened on April 24, 1956, at 5840 Hollis and was named Ascher Silberstein School (Dallas Morning News, September 2, 1956).

The Silberstein School (1922), with its Renaissance Revival detailing, is indicative of the type of educational facility erected by the Dallas School Board during its aggressive building campaign of the early 20th century. The Renaissance Revival style was a particularly popular architectural expression at that time and was used in many contemporaneous schools. The Silberstein School, however, is noteworthy because it is minimally altered and largely retains its historic integrity.