"Colored Schools": Western Colored School

Other Name: Western Colored Evening School; William H. Perry Sr. Elementary School; Western School

Last Address: Magazine Street between 16th and 17th, 1526 Magazine Street

Year Opened: 1875

Year Closed: 1952

Western Colored School was the third of three new schools constructed for black students from bond money in the 1870's.  A rented school in the Ely Normal School closed when Western opened.  Western followed the establishment of Central Colored School and Eastern Colored School.  It opened  in a new building at 1526 Magazine Street, between 16th and 17th.  Overcrowding caused the creation of a branch for this school on Ninth Street near Walnut (later Muhammad Ali Boulevard) in 1887.  An addition to the school alleviated the need for the branch the following year.  In the late 1940's the word colored was dropped from the school's name.  In 1952 the school was renamed the William H. Perry Sr. Elementary School.