Out of all the case studies presented here, Rapoport Academy Public School located on the historic Paul Quinn Campus is arguably the most critical. It hits all the boxes for significance, the obligations for historic preservation, and the sacredness of being a core element of Waco’s identity. Above all the others, this particular case meets with a powerful contextual history that still affects the community today and an ongoing purpose that provides a worthy legacy.
Paul Quinn College began in Austin, Texas in 1872 as the Connectional School for the Education of Negro Youth. It was started by the African Methodist Episcopalian Church to support the education of the former enslaved and became the first historically black college in the state as well as the first west of the Mississippi River. It was relocated to Waco in 1877 and renamed in 1881 for a Methodist missionary named Bishop William Paul Quinn. As a pillar of support in the black community, the college was largely the only higher education opportunity for many before the Civil Rights movement. Waco owes a massive force for change to the very students from this campus that participated in local sit-ins at lunch counters to protest segregation and denial of service to black customers. For the last half of the 20th century, the college had varying degrees of success to remain open as it began competing more heavily with other schools in the area. They capitalized on the opportunity to move north in 1990 to Dallas where Paul Quinn College remains open today.
Rapoport Academy, a local public charter school, had its beginnings in 1998 and quickly became a success in supporting the socio-economic underprivileged in East Waco. Their need for more space prompted the first rehabilitation of parts of the Paul Quinn campus in 2003 to open Quinn Middle School. The buildings had been abandoned after the college moved in 1990 but remained a bastion of pride for those who were connected to its history and community. Later expansions included Meyer High School in 2006, a cafeteria and classrooms for middle and high schoolers in Grant Hall in 2013, and 17 more classrooms, a band hall, and an admin wing in the Bishop Joseph Gomez Administration Building in 2015. A point of pride and a nod to the history of the campus has been preserved in the framed mural of the original mascots of Paul Quinn College.
There are several original buildings located on the campus that remain and they had been severely neglected since the college officially left the site. This has come as a detriment due to the fact that the involvement of former slaves in the possible construction or design gives them significant weight. Additionally, William Decker Johnson Hall and the girls’ dormitory were the creations of architect William Sidney Pittman, the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington. He was the first practicing black architect in Texas and the first to receive a federal contract. However, the historic preservation of an entire campus comes slowly and not without difficulty. Recognizing an exigency for space and the necessity of saving this site, it made a great solution to allow Rapoport Academy to establish itself more permanently on the campus. It has done great and respectful work to revitalize it to further the legacy of supporting quality education to those in need. Tuition is free while maintaining the benefits of a charter school and the Academy has been nationally recognized for its excellent programs. Additionally, they have contributing advisors–one being Marvin Williams, the grandson of Bishop Joseph Gomez–that help to guide the renovations and decisions that are made on how to keep the spirit of Paul Quinn College while meeting the needs of a growing student population.
All of this connects to a rather crucial aspect of adaptive reuse. When utilizing a historic site that has a deeply meaningful contextual and communal connection, making sure that the source community is included in the process and being considerate of the values that the site represents can be a success linchpin. They also have restored the original facades and largely minimized changes where possible for the interior as well. Rapoport Academy has sincerely done preservation work in a way that continues to make an impact in alignment with the purpose and spirit of the first body.