E.S. Richardson Elementary School

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E.S. Richardson Elementary School is a pre-kindergarten through fifth grade campus which serves parts of the eastern section of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. The school opened in 1950, with Wayne Wynn Williams, Sr. (1917-2000) ^[1], as the pincipal. It was the original companion school to William G. Stewart Elementary School, which serves the western side of Minden and opened in 1949. Both schools were part of a post-World War II bond issue. Richardson school is located at 505 West Todd Street.^[2]

In 1954, Williams, originally from Leesville, the seat of Vernon Parish in western Louisiana, switched positions with John L. Cathcart (1895-1969)^[1], the principal of Minden High School. Cathcart, a South Carolina native, hence took over the principalship at Richardson, as Williams went to Minden High School. ^[3]

Richardson has nearly five hundred students.^[4] The eastern side of Minden is also served by J.E. Harper Elementary School, which opened in 1969, originally under the “open-classroom” concept. Harper school is named for former Minden High School principal, Webster Parish School Board president, and banker-businessman James E. Harper (1893-1971).^[1]Richardson school is named for Edward S. Richardson (1875-1950), school superintendent of Bienville and then Webster parishes, and thereafter the president of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish as well as a national spokesman on educational issues. ^[5]

Richardson school is 56 percent white in enrollment^[6] though Minden became, in the 2000 census, a majority African American community.

[edit] Notable faculty and administrators

Gertrude R. Alsobrook (1914-1994), first grade teacher at Richardson

Audrey Hortman (1907-1974)

Christine Sapp Hunt (1927-2005), former principal

Elizabeth Roberts (born ca. 1935), fourth grade

Ronald D. Rhymes (born ca. 1948), current principal

Myrtis Saint (1904-1973), second grade

Ruby W. Salmon (died 1968), fifth grade

Susanella Schoenbrodt (1901-1980), second grade

Grace Turner Watson (1919-2002), sixth grade

William Turner Watson (born 1948), former principal

[edit] References