Sumner Elementary School

	Sumner Elementary School and Monroe Elementary School
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location	Topeka, Kansas
Coordinates	39°3′29″N 95°40′56″W / 39.05806°N 95.68222°W
Built	1936
Architect	Thomas W. Williamson
Architectural style	Renaissance, Art Deco
NRHP reference No.	87001283
Added to NRHP	May 4, 1987

The Sumner Elementary School in

Oliver Brown, Linda's father, then joined the class action lawsuit against the Topeka Board of Education that was eventually heard before the Supreme Court

.

The Sumner Elementary School is currently a

Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, a New Deal program. The school was designed in the Art Deco style by Thomas W. Williamson, and has an unusual amount of stone detailing. Because of the quality of the original construction, it retains many of its original features, including light and bathroom fixtures, clocks, carved woodwork and a marble-rimmed fireplace in the kindergarten.^[2]

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, the official commemorative location operated for the public by the National Park Service.^[2]

The school closed in 1996. It was one of eight schools closed as part of a local

The National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the building on their list of America's Most Endangered Places.^[3]

The city chose to auction the building to the public in January 2009. Hearing of the sale and recognizing the significance to the Civil Rights Movement, Bishop W. R. Portee, Pastor of Southside Christian Palace Church based in Los Angeles, purchased the building using the umbrella organization True Foundation World Outreach Ministries in April 2009 for $89,000. The organization plans to renovate the building and open it to the public as a community center and human rights memorial. The estimated renovation costs are $7 million.^[2]

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Susan Saulny, In Purchase of School, Hopes of Saving a Neglected Monument, The New York Times, July 20, 2009, Accessed July 20, 2009.
^ Threats to history seen in budget cuts, bulldozers - Yahoo! News

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka : Sumner and Monroe Elementary Schools : management alternatives study and environmental assessment. National Park Service, Midwest Region, 1992

External links

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.

[NYT072009-2] Susan Saulny, In Purchase of School, Hopes of Saving a Neglected Monument, The New York Times, July 20, 2009, Accessed July 20, 2009.

[3] Threats to history seen in budget cuts, bulldozers - Yahoo! News

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