Public Forum to be Held for Sumner School

Sumner School, established in 1862, is located at 1021 Avery Street in Parkersburg. Sumner was the first free black school in the nation below the Mason Dixon Line. This was two years before West Virginia had a public school system. The school was sponsored by the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and named after Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts senator and strict abolitionist and activist of anti-slavery in Congress. Sumner School closed in 1955.

Sumner School has a rich history, and it is important that we honor its legacy. Although the school is no longer in existence, we need to remember its importance in American History, which is what former Parkersburg residents, Tom & Ann Northrup are wanting to do. They have teamed up with the Sumner School Board of Directors to find a path forward for the historic Parkersburg icon. The Northrups met with Toni Oliver and other Sumnerites in February 2022 and decided to hire the Mills Group, an architecture firm with experience in historic preservation, to do a feasibility study and develop options that include associated costs for the future of the former school.

A public forum will be help on Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 3 p.m. at the Trinity Episcopal Church Parish Hall on 5th Street in Parkersburg to discuss possible plans for the Sumner School. The board of the school feel it is important to hear opinions from the public. All members of the community are invited to attend to hear the details of the Mills Group findings.

For further reading about the former school, Dr. Michael J. Rice wrote a literary work, The Sumner 7: A History of Sumner High School Parkersburg, WV. This book can be found online and in many bookstores.

If you would like to learn more and be a part of this discussion, please come to the public forum on Saturday, August 20th at 3 p.m. at the Trinity Episcopal Parish Hall located on 5th Street across from the Smoot Theatre.