This building was built in 1917 after the Great Fire of 1901, replacing an earlier structure on the same site. The school was named for Lincoln's Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, who was instrumental in the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau. Founded as a grade school for African-Americans after the Civil War, Stanton High School was expanded into the first public high school for blacks by its dynamic principal, James Weldon Johnson. After the school was destroyed in the Great Fire, Principal Johnson fought for this all-brick replacement and for it to receive the same priority as the replacement for a similarly destroyed all-white school. Through his legal expertise, Johnson also prevented Stanton from being moved or combined with other schools. New Stanton High School moved to its current location on 13th Street in 1953, where it continues as one of the highest-ranking schools in the country. This building was briefly a vocational school.