Sometimes you have to look up to see the architectural details of our school buildings. If you attended school in Fort Worth after the mid-1920s, as I did, you probably have been in a building designed by Wiley G. Clarkson. He was born in Corsicana, came to Fort Worth in 1912, designed many of our school buildings, and was dead before many of us set foot in one of them. And after we did, we probably did not appreciate the big brick work of art we were dying to graduate out of.
Here are overhead (and overlooked?) details of three schools that Clarkson designed—all in 1927:
William James Middle School on Nashville Avenue. William James was a saddle maker and early East Side education leader.
Stripling Middle School on Clover Lane. Wesley C. Stripling founded Stripling Department Store.
Elder Middle School on NW 21st Street. John Peyton Elder was a superintendent at the Swift packing plant.
Wiley Clarkson is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
