AFRICAN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDING REVIVAL
Wesley Ray High School
Washington Parish
Wesley Ray High School originated as a one-room Rosenwald school on the Pushmataha Creek with Mr. Willie Crain as first teacher and principal. This school was called the Martin School, because Bud Martin and Jack Martin had the most children in attendance. $10,000 in donations was raised for its construction, and the local community matched this dollar amount, but the building was ultimately destroyed by a fire. The school was then moved to a site 3.5 miles northwest of Angie, Louisiana to what is now known as Tom Woodard Road. Classes were held in the same place as Wesley Ray’s Church services. Later, this second wooden structure was also destroyed by a fire. To accommodate their growing membership, the church purchased a tract of land from William Lloyd Jefferson and relocated a third time to its present site on what is now Wesley Ray School Road. Along with the small church building, the Knights of Pythian Hall provided the remaining needed classroom space for the school. This third school was a brick structure, built in the 1940s, but it was poorly constructed and was partially demolished by a tornado in 1960. The presently standing school was rebuilt after the tornado. With desegregation in 1969, the federal court moved the Wesley Ray High School students to formerly all-White Varnado High School, and Wesley Ray High School became Wesley Ray Elementary School.
Wesley Ray High School
OPENED: 1960
CLOSED: N/A
OTHER NAMES OF SCHOOL: Martin School, Wesley Ray Elementary School
OTHER USES/CURRENT USE: Elementary school
30523 E. Wesley Ray Road
Angie, LA 70426
