Randolph School Historical Marker Dedication This Saturday

The Fayette County Historical Commission and The Randolph High School Alumni Association are dedicating the new Randolph School historical marker at 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 5th at 653 East Pearl Street in La Grange.

This is currently the site of the Randolph Recreation Center owned and operated by the City of La Grange.

African American students attended school at this site from 1903 to 1965 when local schools were integrated. The original building was a two-story frame structure, which was replaced with an H-shaped brick building in 1934. The La Grange Negro High School was renamed in honor of its former principal Giles A. Randolph in 1946. In 1949 a gymnasium/auditorium and kitchen building was erected to the west of the original structure.

Four new classrooms were also built in front of the original building, leaving a courtyard in between. Finally, in May 1957, two large classrooms were built in front of the gymnasium.

For the first five years after local schools were integrated, the campus was the La Grange Junior High School. After 1970 the school district never utilized the entire campus. In 2004 the city of La Grange reopened the gymnasium as the Randolph Recreation Center and now the entire complex offers a variety of community services.

See the Footprints of Fayette article on Page A3 of this issue for a more comprehensive history of the building. Mr. Randolph’s 31-year history with the school was featured in a Footprints article in the previous issue.

The marker dedication is timed during the Labor Day Weekend to coincide with the biennial reunion of the Randolph High School Alumni Association at the Randolph Recreation Center.

It is hoped that many former students will return to honor their past history within these walls.