PARKVILLE, Mo. — After 40 years of dedication and community support, the historic Banneker School in Parkville, Missouri, has been restored.
140 years ago, the students and staff at Park College, now Park University, helped build the African American schoolhouse brick by brick. Dozens of Black students learned how to read and write inside the schoolhouse walls on West 8th Street.
In 2025, the Platte County community helped transform the schoolhouse from a building on the brink of demolition into a preserved piece of educational history.
Saturday's celebration marked the culmination of a massive fundraising and restoration effort that brought together Park University, the Park Hill School District, Platte County residents, historical societies and descendants of the school's original students.
Dozens of people gathered to commemorate the restoration of the schoolhouse where African American children once learned in segregated classrooms.
"I look at it now, and I know this was the vision my mother and Galen Hoskins had that this building could be," Lucille H. Douglass said.
Douglass is the chairperson of the Banneker School Foundation and a direct descendant of former students and staff.
Her mother was a teacher at Banneker School 2 during the era of segregated education. It was her work and vision to save the school from disrepair and demolition in 1985.
"Many of the descendants here are from the plantations that were now the airport land," Douglass said. "I feel that this is where my roots are."
The original schoolhouse was built in 1885 using bricks created and kilned by Park College, now known as Park University.
The university, along with the broader Platte County community, helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore the deteriorating structure and save it from demolition.
"I feel lifted in how we have come together as a community and support this wonderful project," Parkville Mayor Pro-Tem Doug Wylie said. "Banneker school is not just bricks and mortar and floor and a roof. It is a rising tide.”
The restored Banneker School will eventually serve as a living museum, educating future generations about Parkville's educational history and the era of segregated schooling.
"[The goal is] for everyone to learn and understand that there was separation that was not always equal," Dr. Timothy Westcott, Park University professor of history and member of the Banneker School Foundation Board of Directors, said. "You lose the school, or you lose your churches, the community's lost."
For the descendants who attended the celebration, the school represents more than just a historical building. It serves as a cornerstone of community identity and heritage.
"It's a pride," Douglass said. "It is my legacy."
Information about the restoration project and donations can be found here.
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