Half of the Harper School’s facade was seen demolished at 3200 Center Street on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2026.
Jarrod Wardwell / Houston Chronicle
A cornerstone that anchored one of Houston’s historic Black schools and several other key artifacts have been salvaged from the building’s demolition, allowing the city to keep a few tangible reminders of its past.
Demolition crews have torn through the walls of the 99-year-old Harper School building near the intersection of Washington and Studemont, where Black students were educated during the segregation era. Much of the former school has fallen, but city officials said they salvaged several key artifacts, including stone fixtures that once adorned the now partially destroyed facade.
These are the salvaged items, according to Mayor John Whitmire’s Office of Communications:
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A founding cornerstone
A shield crest that hung above classroom windows
Two stone medallions on the building’s peak
The doorway surround with “HARPER SCHOOL” inscribed
The owl who overlooked the entryway
Their preservation could address some of the concerns raised by alumni and local residents who have protested the building’s demolition, which comes less than a year after Houston ISD’s Board of Managers voted to sell the property. The school was built in 1927 within the thriving Black industrial neighborhood of Chaneyville, according to the Preservation Houston nonprofit organization.
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“We had to come from the West End and from Sixth Ward, and this was our school from K through ninth grade,” Patricia Bonner, a Harper alumna and former teacher at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, said. “K through 9th grade, we came to this — it was sacred ground really.”
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The Harper School served students for decades and eventually housed a disciplinary alternative education program until 2007, according to HISD. The district’s state-appointed Board of Managers opted to sell Harper alongside two other empty schools late last year, and the building caught on fire in late July.
Whitmire appeared outside the property the next morning and said he wanted to preserve the “important piece of Houston’s Black history.” His office now plans to create an art exhibit with Harper’s artifacts outside the African American History Research Center at the Gregory School — the first public school for African American children in Houston, according to the Houston Public Library.
The same architectural firm, Hedrick & Gottlieb, designed both buildings, according to the city.
“I’m very committed to Houston’s history and the importance of education and wish the building hadn’t caught fire,” he told the Chronicle earlier this week..
The city plans to establish the exhibit through the Houston Arts Alliance, a nonprofit that serves as Houston’s local arts agency, according to its website. Houston Director of the Arts Michele Leal said the historic Harper artifacts are now in storage, and city officials are still brainstorming how to present the display.
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She said several city agencies have been involved with the preservation efforts, from Whitmire’s office to the Planning and Development Department and the Houston Public Library.
“Everyone really came together quickly to identify the best possible solution that we could under the circumstances,” she said.
The plans for the Harper School’s former property remain unclear.
The Houston ISD board voted to approve the sale of the property to limited liability company BKR Memorial IV, which occupies the same office suite as gas company SG Interests, according to Texas Secretary of State records. The gas company’s President and Managing Partner Russell Gordy is also behind the real estate firm BKR Real Estate Management, whose real estate portfolio has focused on the Washington Avenue corridor, according to the Houston Business Journal.
BKR Memorial IV could not be reached, and neither SG Interests nor BKR Real Estate Management returned a request for comment.
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Houston ISD called the Harper School an “old administrative building” when reached by the Chronicle over the summer.
Marissa Luck and Nusaiba Mizan contributed reporting.