Carver High School (Phoenix, Arizona)

Carver High School (full name George Washington Carver High School, formerly known as Phoenix Union Colored High School) was a public high school in Phoenix, Arizona, established to serve African-American students during a time of school segregation. The school's building was the only one built in the state of Arizona, exclusively to serve African American high school students. Since 1996, the building has been home to the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center. The school was built on the site of a former four-acre landfill, and was surrounded by warehouses. Students who attended classes at the school said the school was built in between the two African American communities south of Downtown Phoenix at the time, and was strategically placed to serve as many African American students as possible. The site of the school was purchased for 10,500 in 1925. There were initial protests to the location, due to its proximity to industrial and contaminated area. Even the school board admitted at the time that the location will require "watchmen to protect children going to and from school", and that physicians admit the location is a "hot bed and nucleus of virulent contagious diseases". The school was built by general contractors Pierson & Johnson, who submitted a bid of 110,000. The school was remodeled and enlarged in 1948, which included the building of new shop facilities, as well as a 1,000-seat stadium. After the school's closure, school grounds were converted into office and storage space. The school building, along with the land it sits on, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. The school grounds were purchased by the Phoenix Monarchs Alumni Association, a group of Carver High alumni, in 1996. The school's alumni collected US$200,000, including a grant by the city's Parks and Recreation Board, to buy the building. Work began in 2001 to convert the site into a community cultural center and art gallery, in a partnership with the City of Phoenix which involved several million dollars of Phoenix bond funding, along with other grants.