Sedalia Missouri Lincoln/C. C. Hubbard School

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Before the Civil War, a Missouri law prohibited education for African Americans. After emancipation in 1863, the state’s constitution was revised that allowed at least twenty black children from the ages of six to twenty that lived within the boundaries of a town to attend a separate school from white children. Many citizens in Sedalia opposed the idea of a public educational system for black children; however, in 1866, Sedalia approved a school tax levy of 2 per cent that supported funding to educate both white and black children from Sedalia. Two years later, Lincoln School, a two-room frame building opened for African-American children on the Northwest corner of Moniteau and Cooper streets, just north of the Pacific Railroad. Reverend H. R. Miller, a pastor of the Ohio Street Church, then Montgomery Street Church, served as the first teacher at the Lincoln school and he taught elementary grades of 30 students from 1867-68. By 1870, Lincoln School moved its location two blocks North and one block East on Osage and Henry streets. That same year, a two-story brick building was erected on the former location of the Lincoln School for white students and the school was named the Franklin School.

The new Lincoln School was located closer to a predominantly African American area of Sedalia known as Lincolnville. In 1868 Lincolnville had a population of about 300 people. In 1872, the black citizens of Sedalia sent a petition to the State Legislature in Jefferson City, Missouri, to not exclude Lincolnville from the boundaries of Sedalia. The next year, Lincolnville was officially part of the boundaries of Sedalia.

In 1879, Lincoln School added two more rooms for a total of four classrooms, and the size of the student population grew to 260 students. Also, the school added two years of high school instruction to the curriculum. The growth of students in 1895 rose to 480 and the school expanded to eight rooms and a second story was added to the school.

Christopher Columbus Hubbard was born in Louisiana, Pike county, and lived in both cities of Glasgow and Paris, Missouri before settling in Sedalia. His parents were Reverend Alexander and Matilda Jane Hubbard. He completed early education in public schools in the town of his birthplace and earned college degrees from Lincoln Institute (now Lincoln University) in Jefferson City and George R. Smith College in Sedalia. He married Princess Web Hubbard and had two children. In 1906 the Sedalia Board of Education selected Christopher Hubbard as the principal of Lincoln School.

On June 3, 1907, Professor and Principal C. C. Hubbard opened the Institute for the Colored Teachers or The Teachers Institute at Lincoln High School in the following Counties- Pettis, Bates, Benton, Cass, Henry, Johnson, Moniteau, Morgan, and St. Clair. Twenty-five teachers enrolled to gather, exchange views, and pursue advancement in instruction. The institute allowed teachers to discuss methods and experiences. Also in 1907, Princess Hubbard began to serve as principal of the old Franklin School as the school transitioned from serving white students to serve as the school for African American students in grades first through fourth from 1907 to 1927. Mr. Hubbard also broadened the high school curriculum term from two years to four. The first high school graduation class from Lincoln High School was in 1917 and included two African American male students and seven African American female students. In 1925, a business department was included in the high school curriculum. In December, the first copy of the school’s newspaper, The Lamp, was published and issued monthly. Two years later, an additional building was added to the high school that contained twenty-one classrooms, an auditorium-gymnasium, an industrial arts shop, a home economics department, an office, and a library. With the new addition, the old Franklin School was torn down and the five classes at that school were transferred to the Lincoln School. The 1927 remodeled Lincoln School served 420 elementary students and 120 high school students. In 1929, the first high school students graduated from the new building.

In the 1930s C. C. Hubbard became more involved in the civic life of Sedalia and connected students with African American and white leaders. Hubbard arranged for the Republican City Committee to campaign for the candidates of the city at the Lincoln School in exchange for entertainment provided by the students. He also attended meetings to promote the ideas of a black community hospital, City Hospital No. 2, and new homes for the city fire departments. However, both bonds were defeated. Hubbard also provided the students opportunities to interact with many organizations and entertainers such as the Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the performance of the Jewish violinist Abe Rosenthal.

In 1939, the old Lincoln grade school building was remodeled, the old auditorium had transformed into a study hall, and a heating plant was installed. Two years later, that building succumbed to fire and the fire destroyed the first and second floors. The members of the Sedalia Public School Board approved plans to rebuild the school. In the 1940s the Lincoln High School expanded its enrollment outside of the city and buses began chartering students from Marshall, Warrensburg, Versailles, Knob Noster, and other surrounding towns. In 1942-1943 the Sedalia Board of Education renamed the high school C. C. Hubbard High School in honor of Hubbard's contributions to the education of the community's citizens. Sarah Smith-Cotton, one of the daughters of Sedalia’s founder George R. Smith, donated twenty-five acres of land for a park for African Americans. The park was initially named the Dunbar park, but it was renamed Hubbard Park. On May 23, 1947, Professor Christopher C. Hubbard passed away and his legacy continued to carry on.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Sedalia school board appointed several principals, but they did not have the impact that Christopher Hubbard had. After the U.S. Supreme court decided the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case in 1954, by 1955 the transportation of African American students to Sedalia from other communities to attend the Hubbard High School ended. The next year, Sedalia began to integrate students into the Smith-Cotton Public High School. The last students to graduate from Hubbard High was in 1963 and the school finally closed its doors in 1967.

From 1973-1980, the Sedalia School District 200 utilized the Lincoln School as a Special Education Center. In 1980, the elementary school building was demolished for potential business development. Gloria Shepard, a teacher and musician, formed the Lincoln-Hubbard Reunion Committee and established a monument in 1988 on the former school grounds at the corner of Osage Avenue street and Johnson Street. Raymond Taylor, a former student at the school, designed the monument. The Lincoln-Hubbard Alumni Association led the effort to preserve and restore the building in 1989.

In 1997 the Hubbard High School building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2007 the Maco Development Company, which specializes in revitalizing historic buildings, oversaw a restoration project that resulted in creation of thirty-nine apartments for older adults. The apartment complex honors the past history of the significance of the schools by displaying historic photographs and memorabilia inside the complex.