Stratton High alumni tour new elementary school

Jun. 30—There was a mix of emotions Friday as alumni of Stratton High School toured the new elementary school building that will replace their historic alma mater, which has stood for more than 80 years.

While many expressed excitement at seeing the new $22 million Stratton Elementary School, which will open this fall, others were sad that the opening of the school would mean the demolition of the historic Stratton High School building.

"We appreciate the progress, but we truly miss Stratton High School and in our hearts Stratton High School will always be there," said Bobby Webb, president of the Stratton High School Alumni Association and part of Stratton High's class of 1964.

The new Stratton Elementary is replacing the old Stratton Elementary, which in a previous life served as a junior high school after it opened as a segregated high school for Blacks.

It's expected that the old, historic building will be torn down before school resumes in August.

Before the high school building is torn down and the new elementary school opens, Stratton High alumni were given the opportunity to be among the first community members to walk the halls of the new school.

The alumni tour was one of many activities planned for the Stratton High School All-Years Reunion, which brought together roughly 190 alumni who attended the school on South Fayette Street in Beckley between 1953 and 1967.

Stratton alumni vice president Danny Hairston, class of '64, said he understood why the old Stratton High School building needed to be torn down but that didn't make it any easier to accept.

Hairston, a former contractor who went to school for architectural engineering, said when he first heard that his former high school was being torn down, he looked at it from the standpoint of an engineer to see if the school could be saved.

"When I started running the numbers ... to remodel it with the air conditioning and the asbestos — it was impossible. It would have been so expensive we wouldn't be able to do it," he said.

Pointing to his heart, Hairston said emotionally he wanted a remodel to work, "But here, I couldn't," he said then gesturing to his pockets.

While Hairston and other alumni have come to accept that their high school may only be standing for a few more weeks, there was lingering resentment in the air regarding the trophies and other high school paraphernalia which is believed to have been destroyed.

"Everything that we had in the school was destroyed, and that leaves a real sore spot with all of us," Webb said.

When asked when and how this happened, Webb said he's not completely sure but believes trophies and other accolades collected by the school were either misplaced or destroyed when it was converted into a junior high in the late '60s.

"When it went to a junior high, it was up to the community to make sure our stuff should have been set aside," he said. "When (the new school) came in and moved in, it wasn't their responsibly to do that, it was our responsibility. Even though they should have set it aside, they didn't have to."

Not all Stratton High alumni share Webb's perspective on the lost school paraphernalia, though they do agree that the loss of their memorabilia from their high school years isn't just a personal loss but one that is felt by the entire community.

In reminiscing on more pleasant memories from his high school days, Webb said the teachers at Stratton High were among the finest anywhere.

"We had the best teachers that you could ever imagine or envision," he said, "because not only were they educationally minded, but they were concerned about us ... The majority that left (Stratton) High School, as far back as the '50s as I can remember, they succeeded in life because of the care and love and concern that the teachers here at Stratton provided them."

Brenda Hairston Cherry, who was named Ms. Stratton of 1964, said Stratton wasn't just a school, it was a family.

She added that even now, those who attended or had family who attended or taught at Stratton are still family.

Webb said this family mentality is made even more apparent in the fact that close to 200 people, ranging from their late 70s to early 80s, traveled from all over the country to take part in the reunion.

"It was an achievement to bring this together," said Webb, adding that the coordination of the reunion was all done through Zoom.

"Originally, we anticipated and hoped to have 100 people. But right now we're looking at 190 ... and these are 77-year-old people who are traveling from all over the country — from California to New York, from Jersey, from Philly, and Ohio, from Tennessee, from Dallas, Texas — all over the country."

Webb said the theme of the reunion is "I remember Stratton."

History of Stratton High School

Stratton High School, the first all-Black high school in Raleigh County, got its start in 1907 in an elementary school building in Mabscott.

The school was named Stratton in honor of the Rev. Daniel Stratton, who, though born a slave, learned to read and write through public education and went on to become a minister.

According to the history of Stratton High School, Rev. Stratton relocated to West Virginia and eventually began working in the New River District, where he built more Baptist meeting houses than any other minister in West Virginia.

Stratton graduated its first group of students in 1926.

Although the location of the school has changed a few times since its inception, its most well-known and beloved location is between Adamos Street and G Street on South Fayette Street in Beckley. The two-story high school was built in 1938.

The Stratton High School at this location operated as a high school until 1967 when it was integrated with Woodrow Wilson — 13 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in Topeka, Kan., ruled segregation unconstitutional.

It was then converted into a junior high and later into an elementary school.

Email: jmoore@register-herald.com