Collaboration for Sterling High School Memorial
- Charles Reams
- Apr 4
- 3 min read
Community Featured Giving Matters NewsCollaboration to establish Sterling High School Memorial Grove
Members of the Memorial Grove Committee organized by the Sterling Land Trust. PhoThe Sterling Land Trust has brought together partners from across the community to create a tangible reminder of the school and the strength of the neighborhood that built it. The nonprofit will break ground on the Sterling High School Memorial Grove at 11 a.m. April 12 at the site on the corner of Jenkins and Maloy st
The legacy of Sterling High School, Greenville’s first Black public high school, lives on in the communities touched by its generations of graduates — from civic leaders and musicians, to manufacturing workers and small-business owners.
Founded in 1896, the school had a profound impact on many in Greenville until it burned in 1967.
Designed by Thomas S. Church and graduate students from Clemson’s landscape-architecture program, the project will include stone memorials marking the corners of the school building. The space will also have four benches, handmade from neighborhood pecan trees, and a symbolic torch on a column. Trees Upstate will plant 24 trees to create the grove, an allusion to the setting of Plato’s Academy in the fourth century B.C. and the pursuit of learning.
James Thompson, Sterling Land Trust president, said the grove will provide opportunities for remembrance, honoring the resilience and solidarity of the school and the Sterling neighborhood.
“Sterling High School in its day was not only a place where Black young adults could advance their education,” said Thompson, who was attending a school dance in another building when the school caught fire. “It was a place of community gathering and celebration that contributed to the rich identity of the historic neighborhood.”
Mack Lockhart, 1964 graduate and Sterling Land Trust historian, said Sterling High School was founded by the Rev. D.M. Minus, the son of a slave. It was named after Mrs. E.R. Sterling, who had paid for his education and made a donation toward the school building.
Sterling High School Memorial Grove was designed by Thomas Schurch, Ph.D., and graduate students from Clemson’s Landscape Architecture Program.
During the Jim Crow era, Sterling was the only high school in the area open to African American youth, who came from as far away as Georgia to attend.
“Students came from everywhere and stayed with neighborhood families during the week,” Lockhart said. “Some of our teachers had Ph.D.s. If not for segregation, they wouldn’t have been teaching in a high school.”
The memorial project was planned in partnership with the Greenville County Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism and will be managed by Sexton Design and Development.
“During a time when our city is being altered by gentrification, new buildings and construction, this project will create some much-needed green space where Greenville inhabitants and visitors will be able to experience a remarkable urban space and learn of the community’s rich history,” Lockhart said.
Donations of any amount are welcome, and bricks inscribed with students’ names and class years can be purchased for $200. Naming rights for the benches and memorial stones are also available.
The Community Foundation of Greenville will administer funding for this project and has supported it with a $10,000 grant. To donate, visit CFG’s site at cfgreenville.org/giving/donate and choose the Sterling High School Memorial Grove Fund from the menu.
Visit cfgreenville.org to learn more about the Community Foundation of Greenville.
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