Sayre Street School

Introduction

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The Sayre Street School, the oldest remaining public-school building in Montgomery, Alabama, is significant for its associations with the growth of public education in the city during the late nineteenth century. Although Montgomery had established a free school in the early nineteenth century, it was not until 1870, when the state legislature passed an act establishing the Montgomery City School system, that public education was firmly established as a city function. In operation in a rented building by 1885, the Sayre Street School was an outgrowth of the Chilton School, a private girl’s school which had been gradually absorbed by the city system – a pattern typical of the early public schools in the city. In 1891, the present structure was built. At the time of its construction, the Sayre Street School served a prosperous middle-class neighborhood.

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Architecture, Landmark, Facade, Medieval architecture

Window, Property, Neighbourhood, Real estate

Backstory and Context

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Since before the Civil War, the Sayre Street School site had been associated with education. A private boys’ school, the Franklin Academy, was located there and, in 1863, advertised for sale. In 1871-72, Mrs. Louise Bradford Chilton opened the Chilton School, a private school for girls, on the property. This institution was also known as the Montgomery Female College. The City Council, short on funds and unable to construct new buildings, in the late 1870s rented Mrs. Chilton’s property for classrooms. With the improving economy of the 1880s, the financial assets of the City began to rise and, in 1882, the School Committee purchased the lot, building, and all shares in the incorporated Montgomery Female College. The price for the structure, stocks, and a two-hundred-seventy-feet by two-hundred-twenty-feet lot was $6,000. In 1885, a large building was constructed behind the Capitol on Union Street which included the Boys High School and the Capitol Hill Grammar School.

On June 24, 1885, the School Committee recommended that the upper floor of the Chilton School, now designated Girls High School, be renovated by placing partitions in the chapel to provide more classrooms. By this time, the City was renting a structure adjacent to Chilton School, utilizing this frame building as the Sayre Street Grammar School. The Committee’s report on its condition was that every room needed some form of repair and only three of the ten rooms for large enough to hold classes in. In 1888, the Council purchased a one-hundred-thirty-six-feet lot south of Chilton School for $4,000. The price indicated that a building was on it and, presumably, was the ten-room frame structure.

In 1888, the Committee reported that the increased enrollment at Sayre Street Grammar School necessitated the hiring of another teacher. Frequent references were made also to the physical condition and its need for repairs. At the end of the 1890 school year, on May 6, the Committee stated that the buildings within the system were totally inadequate for the demands and recommended that since there was more than enough land around the Chilton School for another building, the lots on Sayre Street with the “frame schoolhouse” be sold. Committee Chairman, Alderman T. H. Watts, Jr., urged the construction of a handsome and modern structure at the corner of Sayre and Mildred Streets. In December, the property was sold with the stipulation that the school could continue to use the frame building until the end of the school year.

Alderman Watts, on February 2, 1891, presented plans to the Council for a new building and asked for approval to open bids. This was granted, and on March 2, 1891, contractor J. B. Worthington, at a bid of $17,066.90, was awarded the contract. The Council, operating under a newly passed state law, required Worthington to post a $2,500 bond, making him liable for the quality of materials and labor. The new school served grades one through five, and the Girls High School served grades six through eight. At the time of its construction, Sayre Street School was located in a prominent middle-class neighborhood and educated students from the area west of Union Street. At about the same time as its construction, the Board was giving consideration to the building of another grammar school on Herron Street, about eight blocks northeast. This facility, the Herron Street School, was in service in 1893. In 1900, Decatur Street School opened and siphoned off a portion of Sayre Street’s student body.

In the realm of higher education, the Girls High School continued in the Chilton Building and a private Boys High School served older boys. In 1895, Central High School, at the corner of Lawrence and High Streets, was built and use of the Chilton Building was discontinued as the Girls High School. The private boys' school was still in service. In 1899, the Boys High School, now publicly operated, was in the same building as the Capitol Hill Grammar School on Union Street. In 1906, the School Board began construction of Sidney Lanier High School on McDonough Street. Upon its completion in 1910, co-educational secondary schooling was initiated in Montgomery. The Sayre Street Grammar School, at its closing in 1976, was integrated and served grades one through six. Its demise came about because of a shifting population and laws regarding integration.

Sources

Sayre Street School, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed December 29th 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77837149.

Sayre Street School, Wikipedia. Accessed January 22nd 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayre_Street_School.

Additional Information

Sayre Street School - National Register of Historic Places