William G. Stewart Elementary School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William G. Stewart Elementary School serves the western portion of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, with public school pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The institution is located at 215 North Middle Landing Road, a block north of common U.S. Highway 79 and U.S. Highway 80, known in Minden as the "Shreveport Road".^[1] It is one of four public elementary schools in Minden.

The school opened in 1949. It is named for Minden businessman William G. Stewart (October 5, 1882 - August 1970)^[2], a former president of the Webster Parish School Board. As did many of the early city leaders, Stewart graduated from the former Minden Male Academy on Sullivan Street, a predecessor to Minden High School, which opened in 1901.^[3] The companion school to Stewart on the eastern side of Minden is E.S. Richardson Elementary School, named for educator and former Louisiana Tech University president E.S. Richardson. Prior to Stewart and Richardson, elementary pupils had attended classes in the high school complex on College Street. Both schools were constructed through a bond issue after World War II.

Prior to desegregation, the historically black J.L. Jones Elementary School at 620 District Drive^[4]was operating in the same neighborhood. Both schools serve the western part of Minden and are heavily African American in enrollment. Stewart had some 350 students in the 2007-2008 year. Most are eligible for federally-funded school lunches.^[5]

For many years, Lonnie Milton Simpson (born ca. 1936) was the principal of Stewart Elementary, having arrived in the position in 1960, at the age of twenty-four. He retired from school board service in 1994 and is an active Baptist layman.

[edit] Notable faculty

Katherine M. "Kate" Crownover (1907-1995), a native of Ringgold in Bienville Parish, taught fourth grade for some two decades at Stewart Elementary.

Gay Lewis Jones (1908-1996)

Martha Risdon "Mattie" Levins (1902-1998), a native of Mount Lebanon in Bienville Parish, taught elementary school for forty-five years, much of it the second grade at Stewart Elementary. She was named "Educator of the Year" in 1963.

Willie Joyce Roberts McCausland (1916-2004), a native of Clarks in Caldwell Parish, taught third grade at Stewart during the 1950s and 1960s.^[6]

[edit] References