Robertson Hill High School is one of the many forgotten schools of Austin, Texas from the 19th century and 20th century. Only old timers of Austin known about this school and history. Not many people today know about the history of this school. The school itself was designated by Austin ISD as a “negro school”.
Austin Public Schools (now Austin ISD) allocated funds for a negro school to be built for black students living in East Austin in March 1883. Construction for this school to all summer to complete. At first, Robertson Hill School consisted of two rooms and later expanded to include four rooms inside of a two story building. It was a shotgun styled house. Robertson Hill High School opened on the southeast corner of 11th Street & San Marcos Street in 1883.
Heating for Robertson Hill High School was provided by old potbelly stoves. Janitors would come fill the old potbelly stoves with coal and they would get red-hot. This proved to be a fire hazard as the school burned on several occasions.
Tax records indicate that the school owned Lots 1-5 of Block 8 by 1885. These lots were soon owned by the city. (Ref: Austin City Lot Register, 1885, Page 130).
This description of the Robertson Hill School by A. P. Wooldridge, superintendent of Austin Public Schools, was published in the Austin Daily Statesman in 1887.:
Our Public Schools: Their Condition and Their Wants.
“I said in my former article that the state of the colored schools "was a condition rather than a progress." This is in part an exact truth, for while we have a frame building on Robinson Hill neatly furnished, the house is not painted on the interior, and the grounds are unfenced; this is the only colored school building in really good condition.
Exactly the same state of affairs (children crowded onto backless benches) exists in Miss Beaulah Gibbs room on Robertson Hill. In these rooms the children are rather packed or penned than seated, to the great detriment of heath as well as manners. A. P. Woolridge”
(Ref: Austin Daily Statesman, June 2, 1887)
At one point during the 19th century, Robertson Hill High School was the only high school for black people in Austin. Enrollment for this high school was very low as the student population was never or never went past 600 students. It was usually around 100 students to 200 students.
The initial location of Robertson Hill High School was in an area with at least 4 surrounding Black communities. White residents continually complained about the effects of the school (high school) on their quality of life beginning in the early 20th century.
In 1902, White Austinites implored the school board to build the black high school in Gregorytown. Their argument rested on the notion that the school should be in the center of the black community and not in an area populated by whites as well as blacks. (Ref: Austin Statesman: Gregorytown Gets the New Colored High School, 1902)
Despite efforts to relocate the school, further complaints culminated into a meeting between a committee of concerned white citizens and the school board on September 14, 1905. These citizens requested that the board find a more suitable location for the high school, arguing that on many occasions the police station had to be called on for protection. Many white families lived in the neighborhood of the high school and argued that the school board should find a different location for it within a black neighborhood. (Ref: Austin Statesman, Removal of Robertson Hill School a Problem, 1905)
At one point during the early 20th century, Robertson Hill High School and L.C. Anderson High School were the only high schools for black people in Austin at the time. By 1904 the number had risen to 177 students. Enrollment for Robertson Hill School was 105 students in 1905. (Ref: Brewer 1940:33)
Robertson Hill High School was renamed to L.C. Anderson High School in 1907 to honor educator L.C. Anderson. This caused Robertson Hill School to remove Robertson Hill High School students from its building into a newly built building located at Olive Street and Curve Street in the Robertson Hill neighborhood of East Austin. Robertson Hill High School reverted back into an elementary school.
Robertson Hill High School burned down in 1938 due to red-hot coal in the old potbelly stoves. Heating for was still provided by old potbelly stoves and not central A/C heating as the white schools were. Janitors would come fill the old potbelly stoves with coal and they would get red-hot. This proved to be a fire hazard as the school burned on several occasions.
Robertson Hill High School was located the junction of 11th Street & San Marcos Street, Austin, Texas, US 78702.
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