Sumner School District history

46, Twelve-room brick, Ninth Street and Washington Avenue 1912 City Directory: Sumner High (colored) – 9th nw corner Washington Blvd – John Marquess, principal; John J. Lewis, vice-principal

In 1923, the family of Cordell D. Meeks (first black District Court Judge of Kansas) moved to Kansas City, Kansas.

Prior to 1932, there was ‘Hobo Day’ at Sumner.

1938 – January 24: Board to issue bonds for $751,000 for site and building.

In 1954, Linda Brown and her family decided to petition for her to attend Sumner Elementary, the denial of which sparked what would come to be the Supreme Court case Brown vs.

“The building is so rotten that a strong wind could knock the west wall into 17th Street,” a building inspector told The Post in October 1979.

To Heaven through Hell, Cordell D. Meeks, Corcell Publishers Inc., 1986 [Information furnished by courtesy of Mrs.

2003 – September: Academy wins prestigious national award – Sumner Academy received the US Dept of Education’s NCLB – Blue Ribbon Schools Award for its scoring on the Kansas state assessments, making it just one of four schools in Kansas to earn the distinction.

2005 – In the summer of 2005 (July 20-24), Sumner High School, later Sumner Academy of Arts & Science, celebrated it’s 100th Anniversary since students first walked through the doors at 9th and Washington Boulevard.