Before a school existed in Eagle Lake, African Americans were educated at home or in small churches, with some classes held in a local blacksmith shop. The first school for African-American children stood on Main Street in a room on the first floor of the old United Brotherhood of Friendship Hall, and it was later relocated to C Street. In the late 1920s, Eugene H. Henry, a young professor born in Flatonia in 1896, came to Eagle Lake to teach. Educated at Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College, awarded a scholarship to Howard University, and a veteran of the U.S. Army during World War I, Henry joined others in recognizing the need for an African-American school in Eagle Lake. Beginning in 1917, Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears Roebuck Company, provided matching funds for African American schools in the South. In 1929, Eugene Henry and his supporters sought a Rosenwald grant for Eagle Lake, and parents, children, churches, businesses in the Black community, and others answered with fundraisers and contributions. Their efforts purchased three and a half acres, and construction began in 1930 after the grant was received. The school became a center for African-American activities, cultural programs, sports, and events. When public schools integrated in the 1960s, it became Eagle Lake Middle School until a new middle school was built. The E.H. Henry High School was the only Rosenwald School in Colorado County and stood as a symbol of vision and progress for the community and the nation during the early 1900s.