October 1, 1886

The first school for black children in Hope (Hempstead County) opened in a one-room building on South Hazel Street, with Henry Clay Yerger, an African American, as the only teacher. A few years later, Yerger built Shover Street School. Yerger was later instrumental in securing funding for his educational projects from the General Education Board, the Rosenwald Foundation, and Smith-Hughes and Slater Funds; in 1918, he built a dormitory to house girls who wanted to attend high school. A teacher-training summer school that Yerger established in 1895 continued until 1935.