began with 3,879 pupils , a jump of 1,100 students since the end of the previous school year , but it was expected to top 4,000 in a matter of days . Officials announced plans to make an addition to the newly acquired Johnson Station School and to construct a replacement school for Booker T . Washington . At that time , the latter school was a small wood frame building . The effort to modernize it was likely in response to challenges being made to the “ separate but equal ” system of education in other school districts , most notably with the Mosier Valley community ’ s struggle with the nearby Euless ISD . It may have also arisen out of the need to accommodate approximately 51 African American students from the former Grace Chapel district who were previously schooled by the Grand Prairie ISD . The new Booker T . Washington School opened in 1954 and was dedicated in early 1955 . 22
After first considering adding on to the high school , plans were revealed in April 1954 that a new high school would be constructed and the old high school would be converted to a junior high school , later named Ousley Junior High . The new high school , which opened in 1956 , was constructed near South Cooper and Park Row . Space was deemed inadequate even before the school was opened resulting in the use of temporary buildings and the construction of additions over the next several years . 23
Additional bond elections were successfully waged in 1955 and 1958 for the construction of more schools and for additions to existing schools . Federal funds were used for the construction of some schools with “ federally affected families ,” or those who had a parent who worked in the defense industry or on a military installation . All of this construction could not keep up with the growth in the student population . Some schools were opened before they were completed , necessitating the use of double shifts until the schools were finished . By the fall semester of 1960 , the Arlington ISD had a total enrollment of 11,258 . Besides the schools previously mentioned , the following schools were in use by the end of 1960 : South Davis Elementary , 2001 S . Davis ( 1955 ), Louise Blanton Elementary , 1810 S . Collins ( 1956 ), Myrtle Lee Thornton Elementary , 2301 E . Park Row ( 1956 ), J . I . Carter Junior High , 701 Tharp ( 1958 ), Corrine Crow Elementary , 1201 Coke Drive ( 1959 ) and Bess Rankin Elementary , 1900 Oleander ( 1959 ). Nichols Junior High was scheduled to be completed in January 1961 and Maude V . Roark Elementary , located in the Hollandale Addition just south of the GM plant , was scheduled to open in the fall semester of 1961 . The preponderance of schools constructed in south and east Arlington attests to residential growth patterns that favored these areas of the city . C . B . Berry Elementary , located in far east Arlington , remained the largest elementary school during these years . 24
North Texas Agricultural College had its share of growing pains during the post-war years . Enrollment for the 1946-47 school year reached 2,500 . The G . I . Bill of Rights provided returning veterans with the opportunity to attend college . Enrollment at NTAC was boosted by this population which accounted for as much as 46 percent of the student body . Under the Veterans Administration , the college also offered training in such fields as agriculture , aviation , and electrical trades for male veterans and homemaking courses for women veterans . During these years , the college ’ s administration waged a long and hard fought campaign to make the institution a four-year college . It received resistance until the goal was finally achieved in 1959 . The college
22 Arlington Journal , September 5 , 1952 , October 10 , 1951 , November 7 , 1952 , January 9 , 1953 , June 26 , 1953 , September 11 , 1953 , September 18 , 1953 , October 2 , 1953 and January 27 , 1955 . 23 Ibid ., April 2 and April 16 , 1954 . 24 Ibid ., May 14 , 1954 , July 23 , 1954 , September 22 , 1955 , October 30 , 1955 , January 29 , 1956 , March 11 ,
1956 , September 6 , 1956 , November 6 , 1958 , September 3 , 1959 , July 28 , 1960 and November 24 , 1960 .
FINAL REPORT
ARLINGTON HISTORIC RESOURCES SURVEY UPDATE
SEPTEMBER 2007
14