The St. John’s School on Delmar Avenue is one of the many forgotten schools of Austin and Travis County. Not too much history about this school has been documented and preserved offline or online. This news article will explain and explore the history of St. John’s School on Delmar Avenue in Austin, Texas. The St. John’s School located on 700 Delmar Avenue was also known as St. Johns School, St. Johns Negro School, and St. John’s Negro School. St. John’s School was a negro school which operated from 1942 to 1958.
St. John’s School was built as a negro school for African Americans in 1877 for St. John’s Orphanage which would become known as St. John’s Negro School that was named after the historic long gone St. John's Orphanage. The school constantly faced tight finances due to a lack of funding compared to their white counterparts. This was nothing unusual during that time for many black-owned orphanages and schools.
The St. John’s School aka St. John’s Negro School at the St. John’s Orphanage on Airport Boulevard was facing overcrowded conditions in 1932. However due to the Great Depression, St. John’s Orphanage did not have the funding to construct a school at this time. So it would be several years before the orphanage could secure funding for the construction of a new school building for St. John’s School. The first site for St. John's School was located on the St. John’s Orphanage campus on Airport Boulevard. 
St. John’s Orphanage managed to secure funding for the funding for the construction of a new school building for St. John’s School in 1940. St. John’s Orphanage went to Austin ISD (then Austin Public Schools) to secure a location for the new school. Austin ISD had available space on a parcel of land located at 700 Delmar Avenue. This parcel of land was already owned by Austin ISD. So they let the orphanage operate the school on Austin ISD property. Construction of the new St. John’s School began in 1941.
St. John's School was built to serve a capacity of 110 students including faculty. This school building was constructed to relieve overcrowding at the first St. John’s School on the St. John’s Orphanage campus on Airport Boulevard. The St. John’s School Avenue on Delmar Avenue served to meet the demands of a growing student population as the St. John's School on the St. John’s Orphanage campus was already overcrowded and way over capacity. 
Here is how St. John’s School was built and constructed. St. John’s School was built using a brick and mortar styled building on an L-plan. The school building for St. John’s School was an L-shaped building that was one story tall, constructed entirely out of brick. Foundation was laid out on a beam and tier styled building plan over a cement foundation as the foundation was made out of cement entirely. St. John’s School used a two-room plan. The entire building was small by today’s standards.
1942 was the year St. John’s School would open. St. John's School would operate inside of a two-room L-shaped building at 700 Delmar Avenue from 1942 until 1958. Austin ISD helped operate the school during its first school year by allowing some of their students to attend their school. Austin ISD (then Austin Public Schools) operated this school with help from St. John’s Orphanage until the demise which led to their closure in 1949. Austin ISD took control over the school building after St. John’s Orphanage closed in 1950. 
The address for St. John’s School on Delmar Avenue was 7205 Interregional Highway, Austin, TX. The school had another address which was 7500 Interregional Highway, Austin, TX.
A news article from the Austin American newspaper from 1954 mentioned that a single story frame building was being moved from Palm School (Palm Elementary School) to the St. John’s School campus on Delmar Avenue in a news article titled, “PATCHING UP” which reported about the growth of Austin ISD’s public schools. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/384914013/)
“Public school needs in Austin have grown by leaps and bounds and call not only for construction of new buildings in every section of the city, but the patching up of existing structures. Here, workmen are putting a new roof on a frame building moved from Palm School to St. John's School in North Austin to relieve crowded conditions temporarily until a new, permanent building can be built.”
So this is why a frame building was moved from Palm School to St. John's School. A frame building was moved from Palm School to St. John's School in an effort to relieve crowded conditions temporarily until a new school building could be built. St. John’s School had already been facing crowded conditions in 1954 and needed room to accommodate its students. The school was already considered to be small by then. The building was now C-shaped due to the addition of a temporary structure. (Ref: Austin American, Page 72, Sunday, August 22, 1954)
Mrs. Delia J. Phillips was the head teacher at St. John's School in 1954. She was very well known in East Austin. Mrs. Delia J. Phillips had been a teacher for many years. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/384978085/)
A 1956 news article discusses the dangers students faced when walking to and from school across Interregional Highway (now I 35). The tentative plans were to move buildings and 180 students to the present site at 906 East St. Johns Avenue. There were 156 students attending school at St. John’s School in 1956. St. John’s School was an elementary school known as St. John Elementary School which educated students in grades 1 through 6. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/359881203/)
“Also discussed were plans for moving St. John Elementary from 7500 Interregional Highway across the highway to a location nearer the St. John housing area. The tentative plans were to move buildings and 180 students along with everything from the present site. Gubbels predicted that the St. John community probably has a life of only about seven more years because it is virtually impossible to find financing for housing in the area and the community is rapidly deteriorating. At present only 25 elementary school students live on the west side of the Interregional Highway where St. John School is located. The other 150 students must walk across the busy Interregional Highway to and from school, hazarding their lives twice each day. Also, the present site has no playground area. The board asked the superintendent to make an investigation to see if present buildings most of the converted army barracks can be moved. If these buildings cannot be moved, board members suggested that portable units be used on the new site. For a community which appears to be of such short life, the board indicated unwillingness to go to the expense of constructing a permanent building which would be worthless when children live no longer in the community.”
Austin ISD had a new school built to replace the old St. John's School on Delmar Avenue in 1958. The new St. John's School aka St. John’s Elementary School was located at 906 East St. John's Avenue. The new St. John's School was built for a capacity of 224 students in a one story building. The site was a plot of flat vacant land prior to 1958.
St. John's School aka St. John’s Elementary School was built to replace the existing all black school called Fiskville Negro School and St. John's Negro School. At that point, St. John's School would be the only all-black school outside of East Austin next to Sprinkle Negro School, Fiskville School, Burdett School, and Walnut Creek School. The old buildings of St. John's School at 700 Delmar Avenue were demolished in 1959. All that remained was a plat of vacant land.
Record land transaction records from the Austin American show the old St. John's School tract was purchased by Herman Brown and Associates for the amount of $600,000 dollars in 1959. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385909861/)
“Stanford had paid $750,000 for a large tract of land in Northwest Austin in the vicinity of the Steck Print ing Company. Each of the transactions exceed ed reported amounts paid in the previous record land transactions $600,000 for the old St. John's School tract by Herman Brown and Associates. Austin real estate dealer Joe Crow said the new development sit "had been assembled about four years ago" by William B. Clark of Memphis, Tenn. Stanford, president of the Mid land Home Builders Association, said, that approximately 1,600 homes in the $15-$25,000 price bracket will be built in the area, known as Bellemeade. This project is essentially for residential development and will include a home owner-country club facility, an innovation in Austin development planning. He also estimated that when completed, housing investments will range from $22-$24 million.”
So this meant Austin ISD sold the land to Herman Brown and Associates for the amount of $600,000 dollars in 1959.
A Gulf Oil service substation was constructed on the lot in 1960. This Gulf Oil service substation would operate from 1960 to 1964. This Gulf Oil service substation was demolished in 1964. Gulf Oil owned the mineral rights. 
A car dealership was built on the property in 1966. Henna Chevrolet purchased 26 acres of land, including the former St. John School property, in 1973 for a car sales lot. Henna Chevrolet would own and use this property as a car dealership lot for any years until 1995.
Henna Chevrolet sold the property to Heritage Inn (HERITAGE INN NUMBER XXIII) in late 1995. Heritage Inn would use this land to construct a hotel. However Heritage Inn would lease this land out to Comfort Inn & Suites. (Ref: Travis County Deeds, Volume 12579, Page 803)
A 73-room Comfort Inn & Suites hotel was built over the former site of St. John's School for the cost of $830,000 dollars on June 20, 1996. Construction would last for 2 years. This Comfort Inn & Suites hotel would open in 1998. (Ref: Austin American-Statesman, Page 39, Thursday, June 20, 1996)
Today a Comfort Inn & Suites hotel and a Heritage Inn hotel exists over where the St. John's School was once extant. Any trace of St. John’s School has been since paved over. Nothing remains of St. John's School today. Comfort Inn & Suites continues to own the property today.
St. John's School was located at 700 Delmar Avenue, Austin, Texas, US 78752. The former addresses for this school were 7205 Interregional Highway, Austin, Texas, US 78752 and 7500 Interregional Highway, Austin, Texas, US 78752.
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