4318 St Louis Ave

In 1873, the Elleardsville School for Colored Children No. 8 (shortened as Colored School #8) was opened in a two room frame building on the site of the present Simmons Middle School. The school began with only White teachers; and by 1877, Black teachers had replaced them and had begun serving in administrative positions in the school as well.

In 1891, the school was renamed for William J. Simmons (1849–1890), a Black Baptist clergyman, educator, and author who was formerly enslaved. The need for a more adequate facility was finally addressed when the first part of the present Simmons School building was designed in 1898. During this time most students (including White students) did not finish schooling past the 8th grade.

When the school building opened in 1898, the enrollment was 50 students. By 1900, the enrollment was 492 students. With a great increase in demand, and a third story was added in 1901. The school enrollment continued to increase quickly, and Ittner found it necessary to address the inadequacy of the facilities in 1911, when he designed the three-story companion wing to Simmons School. The crowding problem was somewhat alleviated in 1918 when the nearby all-White Marshall School became an African American middle school.

The demand for Black teachers for the Black schools increased, and the local Black teachers' training facilities became inadequate. The Normal School located at Sumner High School outgrew its space and moved to Simmons in 1930, where it was renamed Stowe Teachers College, after Harriet Beecher Stowe. The building served as the Stowe Teachers College campus, an African American normal school and junior college from 1930 until 1940.

An addition was designed in 1929 and built at the west end of the 1911 wing. The St. Louis Argus newspaper had a regular news column dedicated to the school updates.

In the mid-1930s, of the 21 accredited institutions of higher learning located in St. Louis, only Stowe Teachers College and the Homer G. Phillips School of Nursing admitted African Americans.

In 1940, the Stowe Teachers College moved to a new building a few blocks away, eventually becoming the Harris–Stowe State College (now Harris–Stowe State University).

In 2022, new apartments were proposed for the former school building.