Thomas D. Clayton School

A statewide effort begun in 1919 to replace old and outdated school facilities in Delaware led to the opening of the Smyrna Colored School in 1922 for African-Americans and other persons of color living in Central Delaware, serving grades one through eight. Funding for the building came from the Delaware School Auxiliary Association and the generosity of Pierre Samuel duPont. In 1946, the building was named for Smyrna native Dr. Thomas D. Clayton, an African-American physician who attended local schools and later practiced medicine in Pennsylvania. In 1965, after the State Board of Education ordered Delaware schools desegregated, its students and faculty became part of the state's integrated public school system. Though renovations changed its appearance, important elements of the old school remained, and in February 2006 the building was formally renamed the Thomas D. Clayton Education Facility.

Smyrna, Delaware · United States