For nearly 70 years, Lafayette County and Higginsville had a school for black children.

The building has been vacant for many years but now a former student is leading efforts to restore and preserve it.

Travis Benton, who spent 20 years in the Air Force, along with his family are leading a restoration project on the school. Benton returned to Higginsville and purchased the building in 1990

Douglass School was the only option for black children in Lafayette County through the eighth grade from the civil war era until the beginning of the civil rights movement.

The school closed in 1955 after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

For more information or to donate to the project view the website at https://douglass-school-higg.org.

Photo Courtesy of Douglass School Project