Welcome to the space that will give you all of the information and photos that I have collected over the years regarding the now defunct Black schools of Kilgore, Texas, Kilgore Colored, C. B. Dansby High School and Elder Elementary School.
This is not to be considered to be a totally inclusive historical document; however, I will post the actual narrative submitted to the Texas Historical Commission to receive the subject marker that will be placed on the site of the Kilgore Colored and C. B. Dansby School. This shortened summary version is accompanied by the full history that the bulk of information was first garnered from Mr. John Douglas, KCHS attendee from 1912-18, and Mrs. Lorene Taylor, a 1938 KCHS graduate, by Mrs. Ivy Davis Jordan in 1978. Mrs. Jordan was a 1957 KCHS graduate.
From 1984, I, De'Lores P. Arline, have maintained/updated the history and through the years many students, teachers and staff members have made contributions. I attended C. B. Dansby from 1968 to 1970.
Due to the need for citations of some of the information I had to peruse the archives of the Kilgore Independent School District which provided a wealth of information. In an effort to make the document more accurate many changes and additions have been made to the original and updated versions of the history. Those versions can be found here also.
Along the way you may see commentary regarding some of the items ... some will be opinions, observations and maybe a little folklore gathered from some of the senior citizens that were interviewed ... you will be able to determine which applies as I'll state what it is.
If anyone would like to submit any information and photos or offer corrections to be included in this blog please contact De'Lores at 903-988-1122 or dparline@currently.com
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Complete Narrative:
Kilgore Colored and C. B. Dansby High Schools
CONTEXT
Kilgore is 120 miles east of Dallas in the Pineywoods region of Texas in what is now south central Gregg County. The area was first settled in the decades before the Civil War by planters from the old South, but the city was not founded until 1872, when the International-Great Northern Railroad built a line between Longview and Palestine. The railroad bypassed the established community of New Danville to Kilgore’s east and the company platted a new town, named for Constantine Buckley Kilgore, the landowner who sold the 174-acre town site to the railroad. Mr. Kilgore urged many of the businesses and families of New Danville to move and by 1885 the estimated population was 250.1
Kilgore citizens, both Anglo and African American, were concerned with providing education for their children. Before the establishment of public schools, education in Gregg County was provided by families and by small privately-funded academies.2 African-American children were often educated in churches before the advent of public education.3 During the 1920-30s African-American churches, individuals and the public school districts partnered with Chicago philanthropist Julius Rosenwald to fund eighteen Rosenwald schools in Gregg County; of which six were located in the Kilgore area.4
OVERVIEW
The first documented instance of formal classes for Negro children in Kilgore is noted in the Kilgore Baptist Church history. As early as 1873, the Kilgore Baptist Church met in an old cane mill and provided both spiritual and educational opportunities for the Negro community in Kilgore. In the late 1880s, a group of thirty colored citizens met under a pin oak tree and from this meeting grew plans for a new church and school building. On April 15, 1889, Kilgore Baptist Church purchased land on South Commerce Street and a 16’ x 20’ one-room building was constructed for the church and it also housed a school for twenty Negro children.5 When an Odd Fellows Lodge was chartered in Kilgore, a two-story building was erected on South Commerce Street and the school was moved there. 6
Enrollment increased through the years and a new site was purchased for a school on the north side of town. This location was on the corner of what was then known as West South Street (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive) and Fritz Swanson Road.7 Although the year and the purchaser is not documented, this structure housed classes for the Negro children until 1935.8
On August 27, 1906, fifty-three Kilgore voters unanimously balloted to incorporate the Kilgore Independent School District (KISD) and evidence of the election results point to the “colored school” being included in the district’s boundaries and the Negro students being part of the public education system.9 In that election nine men ran for seven places on the KISD Board of Trustees (Board), including Steve Dunn, a Negro, one of the 22 founders of the Kilgore Baptist Church, who received one vote.10 He was not elected, but his presence on the ballot indicates the education of Kilgore’s Negro children was within KISD jurisdiction.11
The KISD records from 1906 to mid-1931 are lost, both for Anglo and African American students.12 No Board minutes can be found giving information about the names of principals and teachers until after the discovery of the East Texas Oil Field in October 1930. The KISD records from mid-1931 forward reflect the phenomenal population growth as families poured into the area looking for work. The KISD taxing area grew to encompass portions of both Rusk and Gregg Counties where the major drilling and production activity swelled Kilgore’s population from less than 500 in late 1930 to thousands within a matter of weeks.13 This growth included African-American communities with many children attending school in rural areas of Rusk and Gregg County as well as in town.
The first known principal of the Kilgore Colored School was Mr. Woodrow Cotton who served from an unknown date until 1931,14 when Mr. Cuney Bruce Talmadge Dansby (1898-1955) was employed by KISD as his replacement. Although Mr. C. B. Dansby came to the district seeking a position as a science teacher, the KISD Board instead hired him as principal to solve an existing problem. Due to a discipline problem with older boys, caused in part by the slight build of the existing principal (Mr. Cotton), it was deemed a good idea to have Mr. Dansby take the position of principal because of his large stature.15 Prior to the arrival of Mr. Dansby, the Negro school only provided education for first through sixth grades and any furtherance into high school meant traveling to Tyler to attend Texas College or other institutions.16 In 1931, the Kilgore Colored School added more teachers and the facility was enlarged to four rooms. By 1933, other African-American schools in the adjoining rural communities of Pirtle and Mt. Comfort were consolidated with the Kilgore Colored School.17
Taxes from the oil boom allowed the school district to quickly build new facilities for the burgeoning enrollment. On August 3, 1934, the KISD Board acquired a five-acre tract of land on the western side of the intersection of Wells and Bates Street from Ms. P. M. Bates.18 At the August 14, 1934 Board meeting KISD approved the construction of a “New Colored School” building.19 In 1935, on this site, KISD constructed a new brick school for Negro students at the approximate cost of $50,000 which also included equipment. The building consisted of seven classrooms, a principal’s office, a book room, a hallway and an auditorium that seated four hundred. The campus was spacious and pit toilets (outhouses) were located on the lower edge of the property.20 The new Kilgore Colored School under the leadership of C. B. Dansby could now accommodate grades one through twelve and the first graduating class of seventeen students matriculated in 1937.21 The recitation of prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag also became a daily ritual in each classroom under Dansby’s leadership.22
Between 1936 and 1949, the campus continued to grow as the student body expanded. In 1936, a brick building to house elementary age students was annexed to the existing building which later became the high school. The new elementary building included four classrooms, a hall and two indoor toilets. In 1939, the high school science and agriculture building was added to the campus at an approximate cost of $25,000. It included the home economics department, manual arts department, a science room and an office.23 An $8,000 cafeteria was added to the campus in 194424 and later this part of the building was remodeled for use as a library. In 1949, a gymnasium was constructed at a cost of $125,000. All the buildings were red brick, except the boys’ clubhouse and cannery, which were both one-room frame buildings painted white. The campus was enclosed by short white posts. By this time there were seventeen faculty members. In September 1951, the New London Colored High School in Rusk County, grades nine through twelve, was consolidated with Kilgore Colored High School (KCHS) which doubled the enrollment by 1954.25
The KCHS band was a great source of pride for the Negro community during the decades of the 1940-50s. The band program had no funding from the KISD Board prior to 1948, although it was started earlier. The popular band was enthusiastically recognized and championed by the Parents and Teachers Association and people of the community in cooperation with the KISD Board. It was in the KCHS field house where the band developed so much momentum that in 1948 the KISD superintendent recommended new uniforms of purple and gold be purchased. This was a major recognition because until that time KCHS band members wore hand-me-down, red-and-white uniforms that had been discarded by the white high school band.26 Mr. Rufus B. Anderson was officially named band director on May 6, 1952.27 Because of growth in the music department, the field house was demolished and replaced with what was known as the “band hall” and cafeteria. These facility improvements were approved by the KISD Board on May 5, 1953, and construction was completed around 1954 at the approximate cost of $30,854.45.28
High school students excelled in music, athletic and academic competitions. Within the musical realm, award-winning vocalists from KCHS competed in the Negro Future Farmers of America singing quartets. These KCHS singers annually won first place awards in local, regional, state and national contests. KCHS students also excelled in the Prairie View A&M College Interscholastic League (PVIL) competitions which were the only inter-district school contests available to Negro people of the Kilgore area.29
In 1955, the KCHS leadership changed in a tragic turn of events during the June graduation ceremony. The beloved principal, Mr. C. B. Dansby, who had served for nearly 25 years, collapsed and died on-stage. The high school was renamed in his honor on May 7, 1956 via Resolution of the KISD Board.30 Succeeding Mr. Dansby as principal was Odis H. Turner, (1908-1992) who was hired on July 11, 1955, and who came to the school with many credentials and honors.31 Mr. Turner served for fourteen years until integration closed the Kilgore colored schools in 1970.32
During Mr. Turner’s tenure, an additional wing was added to the campus in 1956. It housed two high school classrooms, four additional elementary classrooms and an office. Around 1959 the high school students from rural Fredonia and New Hope Schools consolidated with the C. B. Dansby High School and some of their teachers also transferred.33
In 1961, when the new Chandler Elementary School was completed by KISD to house white students, the Dansby Elementary students were moved to the vacated, formerly-white Elder Elementary School on State Highway 31. This move of the lower grades resulted in the elementary school’s name change to Elder Elementary. Eunice Daniels (1916-2002) was given the duty of principal and for the first time, two principals led the Kilgore Colored Schools; Daniels for elementary and Turner for high school. Later in 1967, the combined New Hope and Fredonia Elementary schools consolidated with Elder Elementary.34 In 1968, Daniels’ service as principal ended when forced integration was instituted for the KISD elementary students.35
The legacy of C. B. Dansby High School drew to a close two years later. From 1956 to 1970, over six hundred high school diplomas were awarded to graduating seniors. On August 8, 1970, C. B. Dansby High School, a segregated entity within the Kilgore Independent School District, ceased. Total integration was mandated by a court order issued by U. S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.36 It was a policy and strategy seen by many as a means to improve the education of Negro children. KISD closed the campus, transferring the students to other existing campuses.
The Dansby buildings were used for specialty KISD classes for two years and in 1972 the Board divested the property. It was sold to private owners who converted it into a multi-service facility, including a child day-care center that later became an adult day care center. After the owner’s death the facility ceased providing services to the community.37 For many years the campus was unoccupied and gradually fell into ruin. The deteriorating buildings faced an uncertain future due to the Environmental Protection Agency’s cost-prohibitive requirements regarding asbestos removal. The property and campus passed into the jurisdiction of the City of Kilgore and in 2013 it received funds from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs Neighborhood Stabilization Program to demolish the buildings.38 The community mourned the passing of the tangible remnants of the Kilgore Colored and C. B. Dansby High Schools.
SIGNIFICANCE
The Kilgore Colored and C. B. Dansby High Schools provided a quality education to the underserved African-American population and did it all while teaching and providing love, care and respect for the students. Research revealed that little to no recorded history of the now defunct schools can be found in any of the history books of Kilgore, Texas. Kilgore’s African-American community is proud of its educational heritage and eager for the schools to be recognized and remembered, rather than ignored and forgotten.
Significant to the history are noted individuals, both student and faculty, who graced the halls. Many members of the faculty and administrators are recognized in the East Texas Black Educators Hall of Fame.39 Others of particular note are:
Richard E. Scott, Esq., a 1964 Dansby graduate, was the first African-American graduate of Kilgore College. He was elected in 1974 as the first African-American Justice of the Peace in Travis County, Texas. He retired after 35 years and was honored when Austin named a state-of-the-art building after him that houses justices of the peace and constables.40
Alvin D. Reed, a 1963 Dansby graduate, played tight end in the National Football League for the Houston Oilers in 1967-70 and for the Washington Redskins in 1973-75.41
Lois Towles McNeely Caesar, (1912-1983), a Kilgore Colored High School music instructor from 1941-44, became an internationally acclaimed concert pianist and the first model of color for Maybelline.42
Odis H. Turner, (1908–1992), served as C. B. Dansby High School principal from 1955 to 1970. He was the first native Texan, African-American student admitted to the doctoral program at the University of Texas School of Education. He later became the first African-American counselor at Kilgore College and after leaving KISD employment was elected to the KISD Board. Prior to his career in education he played baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Baseball League.43
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DOCUMENTATION
1 Handbook of Texas Online, Christopher Long, "Kilgore, TX (Gregg County)," accessed August 2, 2016, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hek02.0
2 “Kilgore High School,” Official State of Texas Historical Marker, Gregg County, dedicated 1986.
3 Clyde McQueen, Black Churches in Texas. Texas A&M Press: College Station TX, 2000, p. 15.
4 Fisk University Rosenwald Fund Card File Database, “Gregg County,” accessed August 2, 2016, http://rosenwald.fisk.edu/index.php?o=0&school_county=Gregg&school_state=TX&button=Search.
Fisk lists twenty, but two were add-on buildings at two of the eighteen actual sites. These two were not considered separate schools.
5 John A. Douglas, “Kilgore Baptist Church History,” 1930-2012. Updated after his death from 1992 to 2012 by De’Lores Arline, Church Historian. Manuscript located in Kilgore Baptist Church Archives, 1310 South Commerce Street, Kilgore TX.
6 Ibid.
7 Tiger Reunion Program, “Kilgore Colored High School-C. B. Dansby High School-Elder Elementary School History,” Ex Student Association, May 22-25, 2015, p. 52.
8 Mrs. Rubye Hilburn Fort (1937 KCHS graduate), oral interview by De’Lores Arline, April, 2015. Mrs. Callie Ray Robinson (1941 KCHS graduate), oral interview by De’Lores Arline, August 22, 2016
9 Gregg County Commissioners Court Minutes, Aug. 30, 1906, Gregg County Clerk’s Office, Vol. D, p. 360.
10 Douglas, “Kilgore Baptist Church History”.
11 Gregg County Commissioners Court Minutes.
12 Kilgore Independent School District Archives, Kilgore TX, contained no records prior to 1931 per KISD Administrator Chris Hancock.
13 Handbook, “Kilgore”
14 Robinson interview.
15 Dr. Phyllis Dansby Fisher (daughter of C. B. Dansby), oral interview by De’Lores Arline, April 4, 2015.
16 Ibid.
17 Tiger Reunion Program, p. 52
18 General Warranty Deed, Aug. 15, 1934, Gregg County Clerk’s Office, Vol. 7539, p. 376-7.
19 KISD Board of Trustees Minutes, August 14, 1934. KISD Administration Building Archives, Kilgore TX, Book #1, p. 167.
20 Tiger Reunion Program, p. 52.
21 Fort interview; Mrs. Elvis Neal Farste, (1937 KCHS graduate), oral interview by De’Lores Arline, 2012; Photo of 1937 First KCHS Graduation Class supplied by Mrs. Cleo Muckelroy (1945 KCHS graduate).
22 Rev. A. R. Mayfield (1952 KCHS graduate), Oral interview by De’Lores Arline, August, 3, 2016.
23 Tiger Reunion Program, p. 53.
24 KISD Board of Trustees Minutes, June 1, 1944, KISD Administration Building Archives, Kilgore TX, Book #1, p. 340.
25 Tiger Reunion Program, p. 53-4.
26 Ibid.
27 KISD Board of Trustees Minutes, May 6, 1952. KISD Administration Building Archives, Kilgore TX, Book #2, p. 85.
28 KISD Board of Trustees Minutes, May 5, 1953. KISD Administration Building Archives, Kilgore TX, Book #2, p. 121.
29 Tiger Reunion Program, p. 54.
30 KISD Board of Trustees Minutes, May 7, 1956. KISD Administration Building Archives, Kilgore TX, Book #2, p. 219. Resolution provided by Dr. Phyllis Dansby Fisher.
31 KISD Board of Trustees Minutes, July 11, 1955. KISD Administration Building Archives, Kilgore TX, Book #2, p. 202.
32 Nell Dugan, “Dansby Students to Attend Junior-Senior High Kilgore School Issue Settled,” Kilgore News Herald, August 16, 1970.
33 Tiger Reunion Program, p. 54; De’Lores Arline, oral interview by Gem Meacham, Oct. 5, 2016.
34 Arline interview.
35 Dugan.
36 Ibid.
37 Tiger Reunion Program, p. 54.
38 James Draper, “State Grant Will Cover Dansby Demo”, Kilgore News Herald. July 6, 2013, accessed Sept. 8, 2016, http://kilgorenews.our-hometown.com/news/2013-07-13/Local/With_demolition_funded_city_plans_Dansby_memorial.html.
39 East Texas Black Educators Hall of Fame website, http://www.etexeducator.com.
40 Travis County, Dec. 15, 2010. https://traviscountytx.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=4&ID=3304 and “Travis County Precinct One Fact Sheet,” accessed Oct. 14, 2016, https://www.traviscountytx.gov/facilities/fact-sheet
41 National Football League, “Alvin Reed,” accessed Oct. 14, 2016, http://www.nfl.com/player/alvinreed/2523850/profile and Wikipedia, “Alvin Reed,” accessed Oct. 14, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Reed.
42 Handbook of Texas Online, David Park, “Caesar, Lois Towles,” accessed Oct. 14, 2016, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fcaeu
43 Odis H. Turner, oral Interview by De’Lores Arline, 1990.
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School Buildings
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| KCHS-CBDHS Campus |
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KCHS-CBDHS Gymnasium  (photo taken after school closing)   |
The following is the last published history in the 2015 Reunion Souvenir Booklet prior to revision for submission to the Texas Historical Commission.
Kilgore Colored High School - C. B. Dansby High School - Elder Elementary School History
Although the records of the Kilgore Independent School District office show no in-depth history of the Kilgore Colored Schools, the late Mr. John A. Douglas, a student from 1912 to 1918 and Mrs. Lorene McAfee Taylor, a former student and teacher in the district have supplied us with much of the history of the school. Further contributions have been made by Mrs. Joyce Cameron-Choice, a 1955 KCHS graduate, Mrs. Callie Ray Robinson, a 1941 KCHS graduate and Dr. Phyllis Dansby Fisher, a 1950 KCHS graduate and daughter of the late principal, Mr. C. B. Dansby.
According to Mr. Douglas, the Kilgore Baptist Church served as a school for the Negro community as early as 1873. When the Odd Fellows Lodge set up and was chartered in Kilgore (date unknown), a two-story building was erected on South Commerce Street and the school was moved there.
In a case study of the Kilgore Colored Schools done by Mrs. Taylor in 1938, she noted that in 1885 a group of thirty Colored citizens met under a pin oak tree and from this meeting grew a one-room building on an acre lot belonging to Mr. John Reynolds. The first teacher was Mr. Mortem Walker who enrolled twenty students.
After a few years, the enrollment increased and a Mr. W. R. Pentecost purchased a new site on the opposite side of town. This location was on the corner of then known as West South Street (now named Martin Luther King Drive) and Fritz Swanson Road. School was held there for several years. During those years the following teachers were employed: Mortem Walker, M. E. Alexander, W. R. Pentecost, Dora Wells, and Mary Courtly. Later a new site was purchased from Rev. H. C. Alexander with T. J. Downs serving as principal and Mary Courtly as assistant principal. From some unknown date, Mr. Woodrow Cotton also served as principal until the hiring of Mr. C. B. Dansby as his replacement in 1932.
In 1932, four teachers were added: C. B. Dansby, Abner Henry, Francier Cheeves and Sadonia Thomas. The school was enlarged to four rooms. In 1933, Pirtle and Mt. Comfort Schools, located in adjoining communities, were consolidated with the Kilgore Colored School.
In 1934, the Kilgore Independent School District purchased a seven-acre tract of land located on the western side of the intersection of Wells and Bates Street from Mr. P. M. Bates, upon which a brick school building was erected at the approximate cost of $50,000 which included equipment. The first building consisted of seven classrooms, a principal’s office, book room, hallway and an auditorium which seated four hundred. The campus was spacious with pit toilets on the lower edge of the property.
The school also received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the faculty increased from four to nine.
In 1936, a brick elementary building was annexed to the high school building. It included four classrooms, a hall and two indoor toilets. The faculty at the time included: C. B. Dansby, principal; A. L. King, coach; Lois Towles McNeely , music department; Josephine Jones ( Davis ) , junior high department ; Mary Ann Butts ( Adams- Haywood), primary department; Allie Blackman (White), primary department; Obelia Cheeseborough (Bennett), elementary department; Estella T. Gray (Redd), elementary department; and Francier Cheeves (Austin), primary department.
In 1939, the science and agriculture building was added at the approximate cost of $25,000. It included the home economics department, manual arts department, a science room and an office. Two teachers were added to the faculty, Florence Tillman (Keys), home economics and T. A. Butts, manual arts training.
An $8,000. cafeteria (later used as a library) was added in 1944 and a $125,000. gymnasium was constructed in 1949. All the buildings were red brick, except the boys club house and cannery, which were both one-room frame buildings painted white. The campus was enclosed by short white posts.
By this time, there were 17 faculty members: C. B. Dansby, principal; Aberenia Perkins, secretary; E. T. Blanton, coach and mathematics; Cornelius Carr, assistant coach; G. R. Petty, manual arts and mathematics; Wendell Moore, agriculture; Francis Cook, music and English; Abner Henry Smith, English and literature; Velma Colquitt, history; Josephine Jones Davis, sixth grade; Francier Cheeves Austin, library and fourth grade; Estella Gray Redd, third grade; Mary Ann Butts, second grade; Lorene McAfee Taylor, first grade and Theresa K. Cameron, first grade.
Many students expressed an interest in and a desire for a band. The band program had no support from the school board prior to 1948; however, it was initially started under the leadership of Mr. Francis Cook in the early 1940s followed by Mr. Patrick Jackson. In 1948, Rufus B. Anderson was hired into the system. With the cooperation of the School Board, the Parents and Teachers Association and the people of the community the band became a popularly recognized unit. The band rehearsals were held in one of the classrooms of the main building. After the gymnasium was completed, the old field house was converted into the first music room. It was in this field house that the band developed with so much momentum that the superintendent recommended that new uniforms be purchased for the Kilgore Colored High School Band. These were the first purple and gold uniforms to replace the old red and white discarded uniforms from the white high school. Instruments were also purchased to develop a full band program.
Also housed in the music building were some of the finest Negro Future Farmers of America Quarters. These groups developed and won first place awards annually in local, regional, state and national contests. The Choral Group repeatedly won awards at the Texas State Fair. The group was a very well known group around the East Texas area appearing before the Lions Club, Rotary Club and many other organizations. The award-winning Girl Quartet was also very popular. During this era all music was under the direction of Mr. Lusk and Mr. Anderson.
Due to the growth of the music department, the field house was demolished and replaced with what was known as the “band hall” and cafeteria around 1954 at the approximate cost of $35,000.
The Pep Squad and Tigerettes had been active since 1938 and were the inspiration of the football team. School enrollment had increased from twenty students in 1885 to five hundred in 1948. The enrollment increase came in 1934 when the three schools were consolidated and again in September, 1951 when the New London Colored High School (now West Rusk Independent School District) consolidated grades 9-12. Note: The New London High School had consolidated some years earlier with Starr Bailey High School (of Leverett’s Chapel District). Each school district provided transportation for students in their district, allowing them to attend school in Kilgore. The New London students traveled approximately 24 miles each day to the Kilgore campus by buses which were provided by the New London School District in Rusk County. About one-third of the total enrollment lived in rural areas and those students living within Gregg County were transported by buses purchased by the Kilgore Independent School District.
By 1954, the enrollment had doubled. The band had participated in Christmas parades throughout the area and was working hard to measure up for the State Band Contest at Prairie View A&M University. The girl’s basketball squad, under the coaching of Rose Griffin and Eunice Daniels had an outstanding four years record of 38-2; 45-3; 38-3 and 42-6.
By 1954, the enrollment had doubled. The band had participated in Christmas parades throughout the area and was working hard to measure up for the State Band Contest at Prairie View A & M University. The girl’s basketball squad, under the coaching of Rose Griffin and Eunice Daniels had an outstanding four-year record of 38-2; 45-3; 38-3 and 42-6.
Following the death of Mr. C. B. Dansby in June, 1955; the school was renamed in his honor on May 7, 1956.
Odis H. Turner, coming with many credentials and honors, assumed the role of Principal. Mr. Turner served as principal for fourteen years until the close of the school in 1970. In 1956, an additional wing was added. It housed two classrooms. Four additional elementary classrooms and an office were added. Around 1959, the Fredonia and New Hope Schools consolidated with the C. B. Dansby Schools. Some of the teachers at Dansby transferred from Fredonia and New Hope.
In 1961, when the Chandler Elementary School was completed to house the white students of the district, the Dansby Elementary School was moved from the Dansby campus and renamed from C. B. Dansby Elementary to the existing name of Elder Elementary School on Highway 31. Eunice Daniels was given the duty of principal.
According to Mrs. Beth Ford, granddaughter of William Wesley (W. W.) Elder, oral history recounts that her grandfather, a white farmer, was once a school board member and an avid supporter of education. So much so that he donated his first Shell Oil Company royalty check to KISD. W. W. Elder was a farmer and sawmill owner and he previously farmed the land where the Elder School is now situated. After his death in 1935, his widow, Nancy Victoria Elder donated the seven acre tract of land to KISD in 1939; with the stipulation that the school be named in his honor and that once the property ceased to be used as a school that ownership would revert to the Elder family. As of 2011, Elder served as an elementary school and ultimately served KISD as an alternative school and ceased to serve the district in 2012.
From 1956 to 1970 over six hundred high school diplomas were awarded to graduating seniors. In 1970, the curtain drew to a close for C. B. Dansby High School as a part of the Kilgore Independent School District. Integration had been mandated, a policy and strategy seen by many as a means to improve the education of Black children.
Rufus B. Anderson, former band director at C. B. Dansby High School, purchased the campus in 1972 and converted it into a multi-service facility which included a day car center that later became an adult day care center. After Mr. Anderson’s death the facility ceased providing services to the community.
The school mascot was the Tiger and the school colors were purple and gold.
The words to the school song written by Mrs. Velma Bledsoe were:
Hail to the school we love so dear,
Always its name we shall revere.
Singing its praise with voices free,
Showing our love and loyalty.
Hail to the school that guides our youth,
In ways of right and ways of truth,
O’ may the spirit never die,
Hail to the school Kilgore/Dansby High!
For many years the campus stood in ruins. The seven acre tract, currently owned by the City of Kilgore, faced an uncertain future due to the Environmental Protection Agency cost prohibitive requirements regarding asbestos removal from the deteriorated buildings. As fortune would have it; The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs Neighborhood Stabilization Program provided funds for the demolition that took place in 2013.
May, 2015
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Notes: Prior to Mr. Rufus B. Anderson becoming the band director a Mr. Lusk was the director in the 1940s. Don't know the first name or any of his history. There is a photo of him with the band available. Mrs. Ruth Johnson Ford was the drum major in the photo. Will post here soon.
