3021 Hickory St

In 1866, Colored School No. 4 opened on Cozens Street near Pratt Avenue, now Jefferson Avenue.

By the end of the Civil War, five schools for African American children existed in St. Louis, serving a total of 1,600 students. These schools were overseen by a Board of Education of Colored Schools, composed of Black community leaders, with aid from white members of the Western Sanitary Commission—a local organization that had provided relief supplies, opened hospitals, and supported refugees during the Civil War.

Following the Reconstruction-era Missouri Constitution of 1865, which called for public support of education for all children, the St. Louis Board of Education assumed responsibility for educating Black students. The first public schools for Black children, established in 1866, operated out of rented rooms—often in such poor condition that additional funds were required to make them usable.

By 1890, there were 12 elementary schools for Black students, all identified by numbers, while schools for white children were named after prominent individuals. In 1878, the Colored Education Association requested that Black schools be similarly named. The Board of Education approved this request in 1890.

Colored School No. 1 had relocated several times before settling at Lucas and 14th Street. By 1880, it was renamed for Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), the French author of The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Corsican Brothers, and The Count of Monte Cristo. Dumas’s father was French and his mother was Haitian. Dumas Elementary School closed in the early 1970s.

Colored School No. 4, which had opened on Cozens Street, moved in 1885 to 2612 Papin Street. In 1890, it was renamed Louverture School, in honor of Haitian revolutionary Pierre Dominique Toussaint Louverture (1743–1803). In 1791, Louverture led a slave revolt against French rule in Haiti, setting in motion the Haitian Revolution. He eventually ruled the island of Hispaniola—including present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti—and resisted Napoleon’s attempts to reassert control. Captured and deported to France, Louverture died in prison in 1803. On January 1, 1804, Haiti declared independence, a turning point that prompted Napoleon to abandon ambitions in North America and sell the Louisiana Territory—including St. Louis—to the U.S.

In 1945, Louverture Branch No. 1 opened in a six-room portable building at 2135 Chouteau Avenue. A second branch later opened at La Salle and Caroline Avenues. After the main school was severely damaged by fire in November 1945, the branches remained in use until 1950. Post-war housing shortages delayed construction of the new Louverture School, as 53 families lived in tenements on the proposed site. They resisted eviction for nearly two years before a compromise was reached. The new building at 3021 Hickory Street opened in 1950. By 1992–1993, the Louverture School functioned as a middle school with 480 students.