1930 - Julia C. Frazier Elementary School - Dallas, TX - Dated Buildings and Cornerstones on Waymarking.com

"Frazier House and its ancestor school at 4600 Spring Ave. are named for Julia Caldwell Frazier, an iconic Dallas black educator born in South Carolina months after the government abolished slavery in 1863. She grew up in Georgia and was a trendsetter during her college years at three institutions, including Howard University where she was the only woman among six graduates in 1887.

She moved to Dallas to teach in 1892 and continued to impress school and community leaders. Historians say Dallas school district administrators described her as "scholarly... a woman of sterling character." She taught for 32 years, retired in 1924, died in 1929, and the school was named for her in 1930.

But 82 years later in 2012, the school district closed the beloved neighborhood school because of dwindling enrollment as younger families moved elsewhere seeking opportunities. The building remained vacant, the victim of vandals and raccoons, until the Zan Westley Holmes Jr. Community Outreach Center intervened.

That outreach center is named for another Dallas faith and community icon who still is leaving footprints as a revered community leader and pastor emeritus of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church.

The nonprofit and Dallas Independent School District formed a partnership transforming the school to a one-stop-shopping adult and family training and social service facility designed to teach skills that would uplift residents, help reduce poverty and provide a brighter future for a new generation. Various nonprofits and universities will offer services there."

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