The Sabine High School Revitalization Project (SHSRP) is moving forward and the public is needed to get on board with the vision— “A tool for not only memorializing, but for looking forward and providing a new place of inclusion and community for the Northwestern Louisiana Region”. The school campus was placed on the National Historic Register and on Louisiana’s Most Endangered Places in 2020. The Town of Many’s Cultural District was expanded to include the old school to help the community apply for grants to help with rehabilitation efforts.
The Sabine High School was built in 1957, as a modern campus to educate African American children in Sabine Parish, ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. Designed by Shreveport architects, Seymour Van Os and Theodore Flaxman, the campus served as Many Junior High School, after desegregation in 1970. Classes in the facility ceased in 2001 and today, much of the campus’ interior is deteriorating. In spite of this, the school retains its original character-defining features such as the large expanses of ribbon windows amidst red brick walls.
Project Manager Recie Medlock, Jr., would like to invite the public for a community meeting in Many, at the Sabine High School Cafeteria, on Saturday, January 14, at 11:00 am. “We want to update the public about this ongoing project of complete revitalization of the campus and ask for community support to continue to move forward on the SHSRP”, said Medlock.
Mayor Robert Hable said, “This is such a worthy project and I believe it will become an economic engine for the area that will provide services and programs that are not currently available in our region.” He went on to say, “The historical value of the project is immeasurable and with the planned African-American Museum that will eventually become part of the finished project, students from all around this region will be able to come to visit and learn of our tumultuous history during the Civil Rights era.”
“Several grants have been applied for with one being received for $37,500 in July of 2022, from the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation to further the project”, said Suzanne Williams, the Grant Writer for the Town of Many. Williams has been involved with the project for the past three years, sending grant notices and providing other information to the project’s grant writer. “This is so exciting for me because I love history and grew up in the 60’s, attending a church pastored by a Jamaican minister in Compton, California, during the Watts Riots. Our family was the only White family in the church and learning about other cultures at an early age, triggered my love of history.” The SHSRP is a 501-c-3 organization and all donations toward the project are tax deductible. Please contact Project Manager Recie Medlock, Jr., for more information at 318794-2185.