As overcrowding strained the African American school in southwestern Bartlett, the Bartlett trustees bought four buildings from Camp Swift in Bastrop and, after a bond issue passed in 1948, began plans for a U-shaped schoolhouse built here by contractor Otto Lange on the former site of the Bartlett Civilian Conservation Corps Camp. Gentry "Prof" Powell, Sr., and his wife, both veterans of the original Bartlett Colored School, moved with the students to the new building in fall 1949 after the school had celebrated its first Junior-Senior Prom and graduation in May and had become a Class B Accredited 12-grade school the previous year. Students and teachers celebrated the new building on September 16, 1949, and in the following years the school continued to grow as students from Holland, Granger, and Davilla transferred to the Bartlett Colored School. In 1957, as a Class A Accredited high school, it became the Booker T. Washington School in honor of the famed black educator. The school earned success in sports and academics through University Interscholastic events, including debate, spelling, declamation, and music, and Coach Gentry Powell led football and track and field teams to championship games with district and state victories. When Bartlett schools integrated in 1965, the Powells moved with other dedicated teachers to Bartlett High School and continued as educators, and today an alumni group preserves the heritage of the early African American school and its role in the community's development.