Editor's Note: This article was originally written and published by Wright City Alderman Ramiz Hakim as part of a historical research series illuminating the history of African American people and communities in the Wright City area. 

Traveling on Highway J, between Hemphill Road and Godt Road, you will find a singular residence known very well by many of our African American neighbors. This residence was once Gibson School, built around 1920, and served as our community’s one and only “Black School.”

In the late 1800s, an African American community was growing up just outside of Wright City, on what’s now known as Highway J. Its economy at the time was largely agricultural. Sometime around the turn of the century, a school was built somewhere along Highway J to serve the community's black children; its exact location I was unable to find.

Gibson School was built later on a separate site, on the edge of a ridge along the same stretch of road. This school functioned up until desegregation, which was late in Wright City, around 1962.

Gibson School was a simple two-classroom, T-shape school with a front cloakroom, metal roof and clapboard siding. Several original windows have been replaced with smaller one-over-one units.

Interior features include 12-foot ceilings, hardwood floors, and some original fixtures. The stone foundation is exposed on the north side, providing an entrance to a walkout basement. At the time, there was no indoor plumbing and water was carried in buckets from a well outside.

Students in grades one through four occupied the south classroom, separated by a simple partition, and grades five through eight held classes in the north classroom.

The playground was behind and to the east of the building. The children benefited from the tight-knit community atmosphere and their teachers’ involvement in church and community efforts. Parents were known to be very active in annual events such as Christmas programs, school plays, and the Halloween costume parade through the town. Gibson School’s day started with a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a song, often "America."

Teachers there in the 1940s and 1950s included Gladys Sydner, Mrs. Gygans, Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Riddley, all of whom were African American. Teachers were required to attend county teachers' meetings at the white school, where they were made to sit in a separate section at the back of the room, reinforcing the Jim Crow philosophy that would linger here for so long.

The students at Gibson had few books, and those they did receive were passed down from the local white school; frequently they were damaged or incomplete.

By around the time desegregation became law, the Gibson School enrollment had increased to the point that the Wright City School District decided it was time to integrate the schools. The upper grades had integrated into Wright City Junior High in 1958, but the elementary grades remained segregated until May 1962.

Betty Brown was the teacher at Gibson School from 1954 to 1962. She was noted as being strict, and typically emphasized the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.

Upon integration, Brown was sent a letter of thanks and was abruptly terminated. Though many black teachers in Missouri vocally protested their firing after desegregation, Brown chose to remain silent. She would soon be hired as a second grade teacher in the Wentzville School District, becoming the first African American teacher in the Wentzville public schools. She remained in the Wentzville School District until she retired in 1990.

Sometime after 1962, Gibson was converted into a private residence and has since been through a number of owners.

Gibson is one of very few African American landmarks still intact in Warren County, and it is extremely significant to the history of many African American families in Wright City. However, and unfortunately, it is not indexed on any historical registry that I could find.