In 1947, the various African American communities of the recently organized Brazosport Independent School District were consolidated at Velasco, bringing children from Freeport, Jones Creek, Clute and Evergreen together in one building, with an Army barrack added for extra space. The school was named for Dr. Raphael O'Hara Lanier, first president of Texas State University for Negroes and United States minister to Liberia. Under principal N. N. Tarver, it served grades one through twelve with eight instructors teaching around 200 students. By 1950, its programs included choir, band, homemaking, industrial arts, P.E., basketball, football and track, and typing was added in 1956. A veterans' training program established in 1948 provided employment training for African American veterans returning to the community after World War II, and in 1951 the school became a center for adult education through the Community Achievement Club for Adult Education organized by Minnie F. Hall, which taught adults reading, writing and homemaking. The school also hosted youth associations and clubs including girls and boys' scouting programs and 4-H Club. In 1958, a new high school facility with a kitchen, cafeteria, auditorium, woodshop and gymnasium was dedicated, and in 1960 the Lanier Wildcats won the state 1-A football championship. The school closed at the end of the 1964-65 school year when the district integrated.