4318 St. Louis Avenue

Colored School #8, which would later become the Edward J. Simmons School, opened on May 19, 1873, in the Ellardsville area near St. Louis, Missouri. The school began in a modest one-story wooden structure with just two classrooms and an initial enrollment of 53 Black students. It was one of several schools established in the aftermath of the Civil War to provide education to formerly enslaved and free Black children, and it operated under the city's Board of Education for Colored Schools.
In 1877, Black teachers began leading the classrooms, replacing the previously all-white staff. By 1881, the school had expanded to four rooms to accommodate a growing student body. In 1891, the school was renamed in honor of Edward J. Simmons, a respected Black educator and community leader. The original wooden building was replaced by a larger brick structure in 1899. In 1930, during the era of segregation, a new school building was constructed on the same site at 4318 St. Louis Avenue, with a west-side addition added in 1965. Today, the Edward J. Simmons School site remains a powerful symbol of the enduring pursuit of education and equality for African American communities in St. Louis."