Carver High School, Historical educational institution in Phoenix, United States
Carver High School is a 1926 school building in Phoenix, designed by the firm Fitzhugh and Byron and built by contractors Pierson & Johnson on a former four-acre landfill. Its main building and shop building still stand, and the nearby grandstand of the football field survives even though the field itself was paved over.
The school was founded in 1926 as Phoenix Union Colored High School, serving as the only legally segregated high school in Phoenix. It closed in 1954 as racial segregation in education came to an end.
Since 1996 the former school has housed the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, bought by the Phoenix Monarchs Alumni Association with US$200,000 raised by alumni and a city Parks and Recreation Board grant. Renovation into a community cultural center and art gallery began in 2001 with City of Phoenix bond funding. The school was renamed for George Washington Carver in 1943, the year he died.
The former school stands at 415 East Grant Street, south of Downtown Phoenix, surrounded by warehouses; its main building and shop building survive, while the football field was paved over and the nearby grandstand remains. The site has housed the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center since 1996, and the campus was added to the Phoenix Historic Property Register in March 2017.
The school board bought the four-acre site, a former landfill ringed by warehouses, in 1925 for $10,500. Neighbours protested the location: physicians called it a "hot bed and nucleus of virulent contagious diseases", and the board conceded watchmen would be needed to protect children walking to class.
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