McKinley Senior High School, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

History of McKinley Senior High School

 The original McKinley Senior High School Building, now the McKinley Alumni Association Center, is located at 1520 Thomas Delpit Drive, Baton Rouge Louisiana.  This original building (the Center) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 16, 1981.

The history that enabled this structure to be listed on the register is as follows: McKinley Senior High School is the oldest high school established for African

Americans in East Baton Rouge Parish and the State of Louisiana. The forerunner of  McKinley Senior High,  was  named  the  Hickory Street  School,  which  was located several blocks east of the Center, on Hickory Street in 1906-1908. This great institution started in an old wooden building under the leadership of Dr. J.M. Frazier, Sr.

The Hickory Street School was renamed The Baton Rouge Colored High School and moved to a new location circa 1909 after the Hickory Street site outgrew the old wooden building.

The new school, Baton Rouge Colored High School was located on the corner of Perkins Rd. and Bynum St, and remained under the leadership of Dr. Frazier. Baton Rouge Colored High School’s first graduating class was in 1916.  The four students (Hattie Thomas, Maggie Turnsill, Inez Baranco and Olivia Algiers), became  the  first  African  American  high  school  graduates  in  Louisiana.    The Perkins Road facility was struck by lightning and destroyed in the 1920’s.  High School classes continued in various locations in the Baton Rouge area until 1927.

In 1926 the Baton Rouge Colored High School building was erected at 1520

Thomas Delpit Drive, Baton Rouge Louisiana and re-named in honor of the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley.   The re-named, original McKinley High School, was built was and is currently located on the corner of Louise Street and East Boulevard (Renamed Thomas Delpit Drive).

The (Delpit Drive) school started classes on September 19, 1927. A new McKinley High School was built in 1950 on McCalop Street, next to the present day I-10. The Thomas H. Delpit Dr. facility remained McKinley Elementary School. The McCalop Street school functioned as McKinley Junior and Senior High School until 1961.  In 1961, the third and present day McKinley Senior High School was built at 800 East McKinley Street.  The McKinley Street School housed the Senior High Students only.  The Junior High School remained at the McCalop Street/I-10 site, and the Thomas H. Delpit Dr. site remained McKinley Elementary.

The original McKinley Senior High School (Center) facility on Thomas H. Delpit

Dr. closed as an Elementary School and housed a Head Start Program in the late

60’s, 70’s and 80’s.  This original red brick building was entered into the National

Register of Historic Places on November 16, 1981. The This original structure was purchased by the McKinley Alumni Association from the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on February 5, 1992.

That original McKinley High School building, on Thomas Delpit Drive was destroyed by fire on July 3, 1998 and rebuilt between 2000 and 2006.   That building reopened as the current Alumni Association Community Center.  The McKinley High School Alumni Center’s Ribbon Cutting Ceremony was held on April 9, 2006. The building has served as a community center and office building since that date.

NOTE: On January 14, 2016,  President Barack Obama visited McKinley High on McKinley street. This was the first time a sitting president had hosted a town hall meeting at a secondary school in Louisiana.

Principals –

Dr. James Monroe Frazier – 1906 to 1942

Mr. Caesar R. Piper – 1942 to 1945

Mr. Antoine Hugo Jackson – 1946 to 1958

Mr. Julius M. Thomas – 1958 to 1969

Mr. William B. Breda – 1970 to 1986

Mr. Charlie Thompson – 1986 to 1992

Mr. Clarence Jones – 1992 to 1997

Mrs. Almenia F. W. Warren – 1997 to 2001

Mr. Armond D. Brown – 2001 to 2015

Mr. Herman Brister – 2015 to 2017

Dr. James Kador –  2017 to Present

Notable Alumni

Attended McKinley.

Knicks, Houston Rockets, and Detroit Pistons.

  • Lil Boosie– Rapper. Attended McKinley.
  • Kevin Gates– Rapper; Owns Bread Winner Association (BWA); Attended McKinley
  • Cleo Fields– Louisiana State Senator and former United States Congressman
  • Tommie Green – Former NBA player and former collegiate head basketball coach

(Southern University)[9][10]

Clapton and many music critics have called the greatest blues guitarist alive.

Professional League with team Flamengo. Played college at University of Virginia.

1972 to 1984; member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1984 to 1988;

community organizer from the Scotlandville area[14]

History of McKinley Senior High School was provided through the courtesy of :

McKinley High School Alumni Association and Center Inc.,

1520 Thomas H. Delpit

McKinley High School Alumni Association and Center Inc.,

1520 Thomas H. Delpit Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802

www.mckalumniassociation.com; mitch.mitchell999@gmail.com

1928 McKinley High School Year Book

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