E.C. White
E. C. White School
50th & Oak St.
Principal: Attie Moorman
In the mid to late 1900s Kansas City was rapidly moving southward and it became necessary to continue locating new schools in the southern‘ part of the city. One of those new schools became the E.C. White School.
The site selected was at 50th and Oak Street where a two room frame building was moved from the Westport High School. The building was placed on the bank of a small tributary of Brush Creek and students reached the school by crossing a small foot bridge built over the stream. The school was named in honor of Professor E.C. White who, for many years was the Principal of the old Central High School.
Opening day for the new school presented a surprise; the building was in place but no one had cleaned it for the opening day of school. The Principal, Miss Attie Moorman arrived early and when the sixty students came to school, they were enrolled and sent home for the rest of the day. The Principal enlisted the help of a janitor from a nearby drug store and together they cleaned the building and school started the following day. Enrollment continued to grow and by the end of the second year of school, another two room building was added.
In 1912, after 5 years in the 2 frame buildings it was determined by the School District that a new building should be built. The District purchased land at the corner of 49th and Main and the new school was opened on February 13, 1914.
In 1961 classes were discontinued in the E.C. White School and in 1965 the school was demolished to make way for the new Plaza branch library.