Hill High Reunion Coming
To Henderson Civic Center
Aug 5, 2023 The Henderson News
More than 200 Hill High alum are expected to converge at this Saturday’s 12th Annual High Hill reunion and ball to be held in Henderson’s Civic Center.
Hill High alum Reverend Rufus Pollard will be the designated speaker at the gala event alongside the heavenly harmonies of the Hill High Choir. Henderson Mayor Buzz Fullen will be on hand to dedicate the day to the celebration of E. E. Hill and Hill High, with an official proclamation.
A pre-reunion meet and greet will be held from 6-9 p.m., Friday, August 4.
According to the ‘Doris Busby Thesis’ which was dedicated to the history of the school, for years prior to 1902, the school was taught by one teacher at a time. J. D. Wallace taught the small school from 1887 to 1888, followed by T. J. Jenkins until 1901.
The school grew exponentially beginning in 1901 with a succession of excellent principals offering a broader scope of educational opportunities. In this time the school grew from a one-story building on Jenkins Lane to a two-story frame building on Misner Hill, on a tract of land belonging the heirs of General Webster Flanagan.
During the early thirties C. O. Pollard became superintendent and created the 7-4-4 and 5-3-3 plans which separated the elementary grade levels from the High School levels. A $9,000 grant secured in 1935 to build the High School. Upon completion of the High School campus the school became the first affiliated Negro School in Rusk County and was named Henderson Colored High School.
In 1941, E. E. Hill returned to his Excelsior High alma mater where he served as Principal until he went to war to serve his country. Upon his return from battle, Hill was offered his previous position.
As the years went on the school continued to grow and modernize until the early fifties when the student council determined that the name of the school should change. While there were objections, the student body voted and the school was eventually renamed Hill High in honor of the much beloved E. E. Hill.
Hill High Alumni Ready For Reunion
Jul 23, 2018 The Henderson News
Some look back on their high school years with fond memories of football games and dances while others only remember the awkward years of braces and blemishes, but most of us fall somewhere in between.
For those who attended Hill High School, they will get together July 27-29 for the 11th annual reunion of the Hill High School Alumni Association to celebrate their high school years and remember the days of integration before the school closed.
“All our activities will be here in Henderson” Betty Jean Elder said.
The weekend will begin with registration from noon to 9 p.m. Friday at VFW Post 8535, located at 1515 Whippoorwill St., followed by a meet and greet at 8 p.m.
Alumni as well as members of the community are also invited to a Maroon & White Brunch at 10 a.m. Saturday, also held at the VFW.
Saturday will be the Alumni Ball at the Henderson Civic Center and church service at 10 a.m. Sunday at the civic center.
Jon Starling will be the music at the church service along with the original choir.
Following the service will be an afternoon brunch.
“We are looking for nearly 300 colored school children will descend upon Henderson to celebrate Mr. E.E. Hill the former school principal from 1940-50,” Elder said. “We have some fun memories of the colored high school.”
The alumni association has been together for 30 years and the alumni gets together in Henderson every three years.
The association stays active in the community participating in the syrup festival and giving scholarship.
Hill High was bought by an alumni and is wanting to turn it into a development center. Alumni will be able to take tours of the school Saturday afternoon.
For more information about this weekend’s events, or about the alumni association itself, please visit the website.
A Special Class Reunion
For "Old Time's Sake"
July 13, 2006 KLTV
Standing in the entrance of their former high school are students of Henderson Colored High. There were members of the Class of 1960 and 1961 all the way back to the Class of 1945, 1949 and 1952.
Being back in Henderson again is like turning back the hands of time. “What does it remind you of when coming back here?,” asks KLTV 7 Reporter Christine Nelson.
“It will always be home!,” says Mary Nell Foster Harris, Class of 1958. “Our social life was school and church and we were all like family as you can see,” says Inez Hollis Baker, Class of 1952.
The head of this family was their beloved principal, Elmer Hill, revisiting the building again at 99-years-old.
“I retired in 1971,” says Mr. Hill. “So I was around these [former students] a good little while. I met a lot of them that I didn’t know and I still don’t know them yet!,” he says jokingly.
Back in the 40s, Henderson Colored High became the place where blacks in that area could get an education. All of them had to walk as many as three miles to school.
“We only had one pair of shoes mind you. We had to hit that water in those shoes and sit them by the heater that night and hope they fit the next morning!,” says Baker with former alumni laughing in agreement. The school had its own band and a football team, the mighty Panthers.
“We won the district in 1958 and we went to the semifinals in 1959,” says Billy Tribble, Class of 1961. “The 1945 guys, we were undefeated too!,” adds Willie Reedy, Class of 1949. But at that time it was knowledge these students were after. Something they all say they couldn’t have done without the principal they still call Mr. Hill.
“School started at 8:00-8:15. [Mr. Hill] was at the door to meet all the students!,” says Johnnye Jones, Class of 1961. Hill became principal in 1941 with a staff of as little as four teachers.
Arkalio Windom Stein, Class of 1960 and now a teacher herself, made the national honor society during her time at Henderson Colored High.
She adds, “And it has stayed with me. So I always encourage my students to strive now to make the honor roll.” With Hill in charge, instilling high standards many times came in the form of tough love; Something these alumni can laugh about today.
“There’s one person in here I won’t mention. She said ‘Mr. Hill don’t hit me on my leg.’ He said, ‘I’m going to hit you where your legs knell on!,'” recalls Sidney Columbus Coleman laughingly, Class of 1958.
“He was just a strict disciplinarian and we respected this man,” says Harris. “I didn’t know if they felt well of me or not,” says Mr. Hill about his students.
“It’s been really amazing to sit here and listen to the different [stories] coming from our children,” he says with endearment.
With the overflow of memories, sharing and laughter, Hill’s former students couldn’t resist thanking their beloved principal for his priceless gifts one more time.
Henderson Colored High was later named Hill High School, after Elmer Hill. Next month during the reunion, alumni also plan to celebrate Mr. Hill’s birthday. He’ll be turning 100 years old.
Henderson ISD Convocation To Mark District's 125 Years
Aug 8, 2016 Longview News-Journal
HENDERSON — When Keith Boles arrived six years ago as Henderson Independent School District superintendent, he found the community’s tradition to be rather special.
“They are very proud of their community. That is one thing that I see, that the town has taken care of how the community comes together to support each other,” Boles said. “For me, being in other communities where that wasn’t necessarily true, it’s a positive.”
Newcomers like Boles will join multigeneration Hendersonians on Friday for district staff convocation. Unlike other annual convocations, this one celebrates Henderson ISD’s 125th anniversary.
Among them are Henderson High School alums Jimmy Chapman and Stacey Johnson. Chapman retired after teaching calculus and other upper-level math courses at Henderson High School for 28 years. Johnson, who taught English courses across the hallway from Chapman for several years, enters her 31st year working for the district.
“I graduated from the University of Texas, which academically is strong,” Chapman said. “I was prepared here (in Henderson) to do that, so my responsibility here was to do the same for the students coming up, because people had done that for me. I always knew that kids here in Henderson could achieve just as well as anywhere else in the state. Bigger schools, smaller schools, it didn’t matter. It was our job to be organized.”
History
Henderson ISD organized in 1891 — nearly 50 years after Rusk County was created and the town was laid out.
The district’s first session was held in a two-story frame building on North Marshall Street. Within one month, 226 students were enrolled, and the school’s first graduating class received diplomas in 1899.
Twenty-one years later, a successful bond election led to construction of a brick high school on North High Street. By 1926, another successful bond allowed construction for Central Elementary School.
Then came the early 1930s’ East Texas oil boom, increasing enrollment to 1,057 white students and 416 “colored” students. By 1935, grant money funded construction of a “colored” high school. It was named Excelsior High School, but later was renamed Hill High School in honor of alum and longtime principal Elmer Everett Hill, who died in September at age 109.