Bay City's African American community established a school in the 1890s, with A.A. Deleon as its first teacher and A.G. Hilliard, A.P. Allen, and J.J. Grundy joining shortly after it opened. By 1904, enrollment had outgrown the first building, and the community secured a larger two-story frame school named for Booker T. Washington, which the Bay City School District adopted in 1905. By 1926, the school had 225 students and only four teachers. A.G. Hilliard continued there as a teacher and later principal. Born in Georgia in 1863, he came to Texas in 1871 with his parents, Bunk and Mary, former slaves who strongly valued education. After graduating from Oakland Normal School, which opened in Gonzales in 1882 to train African American teachers, he continued his education at Prairie View State Normal College at his mother Mary's encouragement. He taught in Bay City for 28 of his 48 years in education. After his death in 1936, when he was buried with his wife, Pearl, in Bay City's Eastview Cemetery, the board of trustees renamed the school Hilliard High School in recognition of his contributions. His son A.G. Hilliard II then became principal. As the school continued to grow, a new building designed by architect Wyatt C. Hedrick was completed at this site in 1948 and served as Hilliard High School until 1967, after which the district used it as a junior high for two years. Over the years, the school produced two state champion football teams and many other award-winning students, reflecting the community's pride and goals for its children.