Name a School, Name a Hero

Steve Penn discusses names of some Kansas City schools. "The name for the first school for blacks, which came along during the 1880s, was--what else--Lincoln Elementary School." It was at 11th Street and Campbell Ave. Later in the 1890s, Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, located at 2415 Agnes Ave., was the first "school in Kansas City named after a black woman." Another school built at 14th and Jackson streets in the 1890s was named after Blanche K. Bruce, a black senator from Mississippi. "No school naming may be more interesting than that of D. A. Holmes Elementary School." Once located at 3004 Benton Blvd., the school opened in 1903 as Benton Grammar School, named for Thomas Hart Benton, the senator from Missouri. In 1953 the school was named after Holmes, an influential pastor of The Paseo Baptist Church and an unofficial school board member during the 1930s and 1940s. Penn concludes, "Every city honors its heroes differently. In Kansas City, look no further than the names etched across Kansas City's schools to find ours. The names tell you everything you need to know about who this city has regarded as its heroes."