Douglass school replaced an earlier log school for the area’s African American families in the early 1900s. Teachers included Mrs. Marie Washington, Mrs. Woods, Mary Troutt, Mr. Wolfolk, and Vernell Miller, who was the last teacher before desegregation in the 1950s. At its’ height in the 1930s, enrollment totaled thirty to thirty-eight students in the combined grades of one thru eight. There were never enough desks and always a shortage of materials, students frequently sat two to a desk. The materials, books, and erasers, were handed down from the Foristell white school. The school day began promptly at 9:00 with prayer, pledge, and a song, and ended at 4:00 pm. Many of the students who attended walked. Most lived a mile or more from the school and would not arrive home until after dark during the winter months. Electricity or plumbing was never installed in the building and heat was provided by a centrally located coal stove. For several years they drew their water from a well located a few yards from the school.
Formal commencement combined graduates from Douglass School and Lincoln School, the African American School across from Grant Chapel Cemetery in Wentzville. After eighth grade the students attended Franklin School in St. Charles which was over twenty miles away. Douglass School is an important African American cultural resource in St. Charles County and is one of only two remaining schools known today.
Smith Chapel Cemetery 