Leon High School
About this property
Leon High School is a public high school in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is the oldest public high school in the state, and is a part of the Leon County Schools system. Leon High School is one of the oldest high schools in the country. It was founded 14 years before Florida became a state. It was founded as Leon Academies in 1831 in Tallahassee, Leon County, and helped shape education in the capital city. In 1903 it became the Leon County Graded and High School, which was originally set as the first public high school in Florida, on the corner of Duval, Tennessee and Bronough Streets. In 1911, a need for more room for the growing student population led to the construction of a second Leon High School where the LeRoy Collins Public Library now stands. The current building at 550 East Tennessee Street was built in controversy. Built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for $500,000, citizens thought the school was too expensive, too far out of town and much too big with its three stories. The architect was M. Leo Elliott, designer of many public buildings of merit, including the Old Jail on East Gaines Street in Tallahassee. The builder was Thomas Monk, who built dozens of high schools and commercial buildings around Florida, including the Monk Building in downtown Bradenton, renovated in 2000. In Tallahassee, Monk also built the Mayo Building in the Capital area, and a house in Los Robles for his daughter and son-in-law. Until school integration and the closure of Leon County's black high school, Old Lincoln High School, in 1967, Leon High School was for whites only. The Florida Constitution of 1885 mandated school segregation. In 1954, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Brown v. Board of Education, which was not implemented in Leon County, Florida, until 1969. Effective January 7, 1969, the Florida Constitution of 1885 was superseded by a new Florida Constitution, which does not contain any requirement for racial segregation. In 2019, the enrollment at Leon High was 33% black. Leon High School website at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Leon High School listed on the National Register?
Leon High School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 20, 1993.
What type of historic resource is Leon High School?
Leon High School is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Leon High School?
The period of significance for Leon High School is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Leon High School?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Leon High School will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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