Pensacola school on Florida Trust's '11 to Save' list. Is it too late?

There's a shed on the grounds of the old John A. Gibson School on C Street with the words "Live, Laugh, Learn" painted on the side. Nearby, on the north side of the old school the word "AIR" is tagged in graffiti, despite the chain link fence around the block-sized building and the numerous "No Trespassing" signs on the fence and on the building windows, boarded up with plywood.

It's a fitting demonstration of what the school, originally a school for Black children in a time of segregation, once was and has now become.

But as for its future, no one knows.

Last week, the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation placed the John A. Gibson School building on its 2024 Florida's 11 to Save , a list of the most threatened historic places in the state.

Each year, the Florida Trust announces its 11 to Save sites, though the program is non-binding and doesn't guarantee that a building will be saved. The school was named for John A. Gibson , a Bahamas-born educator born in 1827. It opened in 1921, years after his death in Pensacola on Oct. 3, 1906.

Righting the past: John A. Gibson, education advocate and community leader, dead at 79

Gibson came to Pensacola in 1872 and became a leader in education, and also served as a city alderman for three terms from 1879 to 1885, one of at least 15 Black people who would serve on the board during Reconstruction. He served as a principal at various Pensacola schools, and in the mid-1880s he worked as a deputy teacher examiner for the school district and helped organize the Institute of Colored Teachers of Escambia County, according to Pensacola historian and educator Robin Reshard.

The John A. Gibson School closed in 1974, but the building continued being a place for education when it then became the headquarters for Escambia County's Gibson Head Start program, a place where children continued to grow intellectually and socially for decades more.

Yet the century-old building was damaged by Hurricane Sally in 2020, and in 2023 Head Start operations in the building ceased.

The memories of the old brick building and what it meant to a neighborhood, a community, are still strong.

Freda Cox was a volunteer at the Gibson Head Start and her mother, Rosa Evelyn Lee, was a teacher there for 29 years. Cox's daughter, Carla Lomax, attended classes there. Now, Lomax is a successful entrepreneur in Jacksonville with a master's degree in business administration.

"The teachers were so good there and really dedicated themselves to the students,'' said Cox, 69. "Field trips to the turtle farm, there were always plays and events for the children. I knew all the children's names. We all did."

She said her mother, now 94, taught 4-year-olds the basics.

"They learned how to eat, go to the bathroom, clean up after themselves,'' Cox said. "They learned about life."

Tracey Adams Golay was one of the students at John A. Gibson School from 1964 to 1966. She only lived two blocks away.

She was a library assistant, and also helped teachers grade papers. She said the librarian at the school, "Mrs. Spencer," not only taught her the Dewey Decimal System, but "cultivated my interest and eventually my love of reading."

"We would have annual productions that would rival any on Broadway,'' Golay said. "We had such excellent educators who were all Black. But we had such a really good education, and based on what we have now in society, I know we received a great education."

She said the teachers − her grandmother and other relatives taught there through the years − "lived in the neighborhood and knew the parents. They were dedicated to their chosen profession, their calling."

Pensacola City Council member Teníadé Broughton nominated the building for the 11 to Save list.

"As a representation of the progress for African Americans, the community named the school after (Gibson) and built a strong brick school, when most of the schools for African Americans were wood-framed,'' she said. "It was a testament to the community at the time, because so many people didn't know there was such a strong African American presence and population here."

The Escambia County School District owns the building and property, but in February the Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to authorize $570,00 for purchase of the building and property. No agreement has been made, however, and the building's future is still much in the air.

Last week at a press conference, Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves spoke of the school briefly.

"We're continuing conversations with the School District about Gibson,'' Reeves said. "We're trying to be proactive in saving buildings, even buildings like Gibson that may not be salvageable. We're still trying to get a step up and see if there are tax credits or something that can make it happen. I think preserving the character of our community is important."

Cox said that "Pensacola has lost too many" buildings that are important to Black residents in the city. She hopes the fate of the John A. Gibson School will be different.

"It's part of our history,'' she said. "So many of our wonderful children passed through that door."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola school on Florida Trust's '11 to Save' list. Is it too late?