2840 Samuel Shepard Drive

Banneker School, originally Colored school #5, was opened at 18th and Condi streets in 1866. By 1890, it had moved to Montgomery Street and Leffenwell Ave. where it was renamed for Benjamin Banneker, an African American astronomer, mathematician, and architect.

Banneker produced an Almanac comparable to Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac. In 1789, he was appointed to assist Pierre L'enfant in laying out Washington DC. When L'enfant left town before the work was finished in a dispute over his fee, Bannerker had to draw up a new set of plans. His fine work won him widespread praise.

The Georgetown Weekly Ledger of March 12th, 1791, called him an "Ethiopian whose abilities as surveyor and astronomer already proved that Mr. Jefferson's concluding that race of men were void of mental endowment was without foundation."

In 1932 the Banneker School moved into the Stoddard School building built in 1873 at Lucas and Ewing Avenues. This building was torn down in 1939 to make way for a new Banneker School on the same site.

In the late 1950's the Saint Louis Public Schools were divided into several sub districts with their own elementary schools and junior high schools. Each sub district was centered around one or two high schools.

Banneker School gained national and international attention as the administrative headquarters of the Banneker District, which consisted of 23 elementary schools, mostly in the inner city, including schools within the Pruitt-Igoe and Vaughan housing projects. The district program, headed by Samuel Shepherd Jr., incorporated highly successful methods for inspiring children to attend school and for encouraging parents to become involved in schools.

When the district was reorganized in 1970, the Banneker District became part of the Central Vashon District in 1992-93. Banneker housed classes from preschool through 5th grade with an enrollment of 365 students.