Old Town
East Clinton Street School
The story
Behind the sketch.
This block of East Clinton Avenue has been devoted to education since Green Academy was built here in 1822. Huntsville's first public school building followed in 1882, and a larger twelve-grade school replaced it around 1902. The present East Clinton Elementary School, the fourth school on the site, opened in 1938. The one-story school is one of Old Town's rare examples of Art Deco architecture. At the main entrance, vertical stone faceting, circular windows in the original doors, and geometric brick and stone ornament give the low, flat-roofed building its distinctive modern character. The school also holds an important place in Huntsville's civil-rights history. In September 1963, Governor George Wallace used state troopers to block East Clinton and other Huntsville schools during an attempt to prevent desegregation. When the schools reopened on September 9, John Anthony Brewton enrolled at East Clinton without incident, one of four Black students who integrated Huntsville City Schools that day.
- Neighborhood
- Old Town
- Book location
- Page 88
