Marion Colored High School

The Marion Colored High School in Sunset (Crittenden County) was constructed in 1924 as a Rosenwald school to educate African American students. Also known as Phelix School, it served the community until 1970, when the school district integrated. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 23, 1995.

Efforts to construct a school in the area for Black students had been ongoing for several years before funds from the Julius Rosenwald Fund provided the community the support it needed to complete the project. The original school offered coursework for students in first through eighth grades. By the mid-1930s, the administration added classes for ninth and tenth grades. With support from the local school board not forthcoming, the community eventually raised funds to cover the initial costs for adding a teacher to cover the final two years of high school courses. To continue to offer a high school diploma, the school charged tuition of eight dollars a year between 1938 and 1943. Students from the community were joined by classmates from Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri, as well as other Arkansas towns. While some students commuted to the school, others boarded in the community, as living quarters were not available at the institution. The school was originally constructed in an unincorporated area of the county, about half a mile northwest of Marion (Crittenden County), known as Sunset; the Sunset community later incorporated as a town in 1970.

Increased enrollment led to the expansion of the school, with wings added on the north and south sides of the original building sometime before 1940. The newly expanded structure was then U-shaped with the open end to the west. All grades attended class in the building until the construction of an elementary school nearby in 1955. Additional buildings at the site included a gymnasium and an agricultural education building. Originally called the Marion Colored School, the complex was renamed in honor of local Black businessman James Sebastian Phelix after his death in 1944. The original building became known as Phelix High School. With the integration of public schools in the area in 1970, the building fell into disuse, with only occasional activities held there by the nearby elementary school.

The original brick building faces east, fronting Arkansas Highway 77, and rests on a continuous concrete foundation. The roof is topped with composition shingles, and two interior brick chimneys are present in the structure. Multiple windows allowed for maximum sunlight to enter the building, helping keep electrical costs down and providing students with ample light to work. The wings of the building also each include a chimney and multiple windows. At the time of the nomination of the property to the National Register, the interior of the structure retained many original details, including slate blackboards, beaded board wainscoting, and multi-pane windows.

Ownership of the school transferred from the Marion School Board to the town of Sunset in 1998. By the early twenty-first century, the school had fallen into complete disrepair. Portions of the roof had collapsed, and the exterior walls were in danger of collapse due to neglect. The building appeared with other Rosenwald schools on the 2005 list of Arkansas’s Most Endangered Places, compiled by Preserve Arkansas.

For additional information:
“Marion Colored School.” National Register of Historic Places registration form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online https://www.arkansasheritage.com/docs/default-source/national-registry/CT0088-pdf (accessed May 9, 2025).

Preserve Arkansas, 2005 Most Endangered Places in Arkansas: “Rosenwald Schools.” https://preservearkansas.org/rosenwald-schools/ (accessed May 9, 2025).

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University