Rincon School
The Rincon School, also known as the Frederick 'Douglass School, was the first public school for African American students in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The school was founded on Rincon Street as a private school, in 1871 it became a public school, and moved in 1915 to what is now 318 Martin Luther King Drive. It has a historical marker was erected 2010 by Texas Historical Commission at 204 Augusta Street near the San Antonio River Walk. It was also called the Rincon Street Public Colored School, the Brackenridge Colored School, and Frederick Douglass Colored High School'.
History
The Rincon School opened in the late 1860s as a two-story stone building on Rincon Street near the San Antonio River Walk, and was operated by the Freedmen's Bureau. It was the first public high school for African American students in the city. The site had been a former Confederate States Army tanner and sawmill, and was purchased in 1868 by the Freedmen's Bureau. In 1871, the city assumed operation of the school, in what is now the San Antonio Independent School District.The Rincon School taught children in the daytime, and adults at nighttime, and they quickly outgrew the building. By 1888, the school was renting additional space at the St. James AME Church.
In 1889, philanthropist George Washington Brackenridge donated money to expand the curriculum at the Rincon School and they began to offer vocational high school courses. In 1915, the school moved to a larger school building on the Eastside of San Antonio, at 318 Martin Luther King Drive in a building designed by Leo Dielmann.