The Oakland School opened on this site in 1928, serving first through eighth grades with funding from the county school board and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, which provided access to education for African Americans in the South. Black high school students in Haines City had to travel to schools in Bartow or Lakeland until 1930, when the Oakland School became accredited as a senior high school and its first graduating class of four students matriculated that same year. Renamed Oakland High, it was one of five black high schools in the county and served students from Loughman, Davenport, Dundee, Lake Hamilton, and unincorporated northeast Polk County. In 1952, the school expanded to include a gymnasium, auditorium/cafeteria, dedicated elementary school, and industrial arts and home economics building. The campus extended from Avenue D to Avenue E, with 11th Street on the east and 8th Street on the west. Following the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and public school integration, Oakland High closed in 1968, and although many school buildings were razed in 1977, the music building remains as part of Oakland Neighborhood Center.