Home   •   Departments   •   Citizens   •   Business   •   Leisure   •   Online Payments   •   Downtown Wireless Lakeland Public Library - Special Collections African American Experience in Lakeland Bernard Family Buildings from Lakeland's Past Dancing to the Big Band Sound Detroit Tigers in Lakeland Downtown Lakeland Earl Morgan Savage's Lakeland Early Homes of Lakeland Early Lakeland Postcards Frank Lloyd Wright and FSC Hollis Photos Hollis Photos-Part II Howard Hughes Around the World Flight Lake Mirror Promenade Lakeland Loves a Parade Lakeland Police Dept. Lakeland Takes to the Air Lakeland's Early Churches Lakeland's Hotels Lakeland's Pioneer Families: the Riggins Lodwick School of Aeronautics Munn Park Then and Now New Photos from Lodwick Postcard Images of Lakeland School Daze Special Collections Home The Lakeland Public Library The Pied Piper Players Present Working for a living Main   >   Library   >   Library Special Collections   >   Speccoll Exhibits GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: BUILDINGS FROM LAKELAND'S PAST Washington Park High School Back Washington Park High School was built in 1928 next door to an already existing grammar school of the same name at the corner of Dakota Avenue (now Martin Luther King Boulevard) and Tenth Street. It was the first high school for blacks in Lakeland and one of only six black high schools in the state in 1928. The school was renamed the William A. Rochelle High School in 1949 after the late William A. Rochelle, a pioneer African-American educator in Lakeland. It became a junior high school in 1951 when a new Rochelle High School was built a few blocks away. It later served the community as a grammar school until being torn down in the early 1970's. Lakeland City Hall • 228 South Massachusetts Avenue • Lakeland, FL 33801 • (863) 834-6000   •   Contact Us   •   Privacy Policy