Existing comment:
Nichols Avenue Elementary School/Old Birney School Site
2427 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE
James G. Birney Elementary School (founded 1889) was the city's first public school for African Americans in this area, then known as Hillsdale. Previously, residents organized their own schools. The Old Birney School expanded in 1901 with the construction of this Italian Renaissance building. In 1962 it was renamed for Nichols Avenue, the original name of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. After educating thousands of area schoolchildren, the building served as a community center and a library before standing vacant. Community activism saved it from demolition in the 1970s. The remodeled building, re-opened in 2005 as Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School. |