Work is underway to fix up the historic school building that hosts the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in St. Augustine. | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today
Big fixes are underway at Lincolnville’s 100-year-old schoolhouse
By Noah Hertz
Thanks to more than $1 million in grant funding, the building that housed St. Johns County’s first high school for Black students is getting some much-needed fixes.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of when the first students started attending school at the later-renamed Excelsior High School in Lincolnville. Designed by prolific St. Augustine architect Fred Henderich, the school was integral for the education of Black youth in St. Augustine for decades until it closed in 1968.
These days the school building houses the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center and offices for the St. Johns County School District. Grants have allowed the museum to buy a state-of-the-art new HVAC system, replace the roof and spruce up a performance and event space on the building’s second floor.
It’s been a long time coming, Lincolnville Museum Executive Director Gayle Phillips told Jacksonville Today.
The museum first received a grant to fix up the building several years ago.
The 100th Anniversary of Excelsior High School provides an excellent opportunity to get involved in the continued preservation of the Excelsior legacy and the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center. Your financial support will help ensure the museum continues to expand in capacity to provide programs, maintain historic treasures and share the impact of public education in Lincolnville, a community built by formerly enslaved people.
The history of public education for Black children in St. Augustine dates back to 1902. At that time, city leaders established a two-room schoolhouse at 102 Central Avenue, now known as M.L. King Avenue. The school eventually expanded to accommodate children from the 1st to the 8th grade. There was no local high school. Parents who could afford it, or those with relatives living in a community with a high school, sent their children away to receive secondary education.
After years of public pleas, local officials commissioned a “colored” high school for St. Johns County in 1924. Lincolnville community members voted to change the name of the school to Excelsior in 1928. Today, the building is home to the nationally acclaimed Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center, which showcases more than 450 years of African heritage from the nation’s oldest city. The museum has an array of interactive exhibits and artifacts that chronicle life for African Americans from St. Augustine’s humble beginnings to the Civil Rights era and beyond.
The 100th Excelsior celebration will include exhibits, a gala and the establishment of an Excelsior Endowment to sustain the museum’s programs and operations. The celebration will also highlight the outcome of recent museum renovations, including newly refurbished performance and multipurpose event spaces which will allow the museum to once again feature live jazz and other community cultural programs.
Please consider a donation on behalf of the 100th Anniversary of Excelsior. Your support will help sustain ongoing programs, including Lincolnville Presents Jazz at the Excelsior, lecture series, new exhibits and other community events.
A donation of any amount is appreciated. Also, please share our cause with your family and friends!
