AC Phoenix, March, 1992, Page 9
Another Piece of Black History Bites The Dust
By Patricia Smith-Deering
Phoenix Managing Editor
Anytime we, as Black people, let
even one of our traditions die, it is a
time of sorrow and mourning. That
just happened when, on March 25,
the bulldozers razed a structure that
had been, during the ‘50 and ‘60s,
St Anne’s Academy.
With both the bang of the
bulldozers and the whimper of
those who might have saved this
piece of history, the former school
for college-bound students turned
domicile for senior citizens became
little more than the rubble of bricks
and mortar that had sustained a host
of students during the better days of
14th Street. The saddest part of all
is that so few people knew about
the fate about to befall the old Kyle
mansion.
As a member of St. Anne’s Class
of ‘62,1 remember fondly the days
my friends and I spent there under
the strict tutelage of the Sisters of
Saint Francis and the Franciscan
priests. Although some of the views
of the nuns were somewhat limited
in societal and racial issues, the
discipline and education netted
doctors, professors, teachers,
nurses, writers, classical singers
and musicians and a wealth of other
talented professionals.
’•’I
But, time always brings about a
change in the usefulness of people
and places. St. Anne’s, which was
an early ‘50s adjunct to the
element^ school around the comer
on Hattie Avenue - St. Benedict the
Moor - succumbed to the exodus of
students flocking to the newly-
integrated Bishop McGuiness in the
‘60s. The main building, facing
14th Street, had served as the
convent for the nuns. It eventually
became a housing facility for senior
citizens. The two buildings behind
the convent, formerly housing the
academy classrooms and dormitory
students, were converted to serve
similar utilitarian purposes.
When my friends and I were
attending St. Anne’s, few of us
were aware of its history back then.
The academy’s buildings had
belonged to A.M.E. Zion Church
Bishop Linwood K. Kyles, affluent
and stylish with a staff of servants.
The area around the Kyle mansion
was surrounded by other affluent
Black professionals and was a far
cry from the deteriorated, crime-and
drug-infested neighborhood that
now exists. What we remember
was an era where education reigned
supreme, and we were daily
challenged to be the best that we
could be.
St. Anne's Academy was In its heyday in the late '50s and early '60s, finally
closing In 1963. (Photo from 1957 high school yearbook. The Annette.
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Kyle Heights was a failed attempt at low-cost housing for senior citizens. It was
leveled on March 25, and Charlotte diocese has no immediate plans for the
property.
So, why the nostalgic cry over a
school that closed when my sister’s
class of ‘63 graduated and in later
years suffered the ravages of time
and neglect? The reason gets to the
very core of what has gradually
happened over the years in East
Winston. Too many of the symbols
of Black history have fallen beneath
the wrecking balls of progress.
Talking recently to Carl Russell,
Jr., who - along with several of his
brothers and sisters - attended the
Catholic elementary school on
Hattie Avenue, he made a profound
observation. Black businesses and
other sources of pride have been
consistently eradicated. He noted
that streets like 7th Street, where
Russell Funeral Home had its
original location and where few
remember now that Katie B. used to
be, have been greatly changed from
what they once were, and not
always for the better. “They are
trying to erase any presence of
Black people doing anything
worthwhile other than going to the
projects or going to work for
them,” he surmised.
Few attempts were made to save
what had been the historic Kyle
mansion beyond one to put it to
commercial use. The East Winston
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Restoration Association and the
Interfaith Housing Alliance joined
forces in 1982 to lease the three
buildings, owned by the Roman
Catholic ^ocese in Charlotte, and
convert them into housing for
senior citizens. But, for whatever
reasons, it was not a profitable
investment. Little was done,
however, to preserve the buildings
for their historical value. Razing the
site was preferable to raising the
half million dollars it would have
taken to renovate and restore the
Kyle mansion.
None of the concerns matter any
longer because the house, built by
the Kyles in 1916, exists no longer.
Few of the alumni of St. Anne’s
know that our old high school was
in danger of demolition, and I don’t
know whether there would have
been money to support any
promises to help with any
restoration effort. What I do know
is that one more piece of our history
in East Winston has gone with
virtually no protest. Like anything
else that has played a significant
role in a person’s life, the barren
site leaves an equally barren spot in
the hearts of those of us who
remember.
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