Virginia Department of Historic Resources
(dhr.virginia.gov)
For Immediate Release
October 2025
Contact:
Ivy Tan
Department of Historic Resources
Marketing & Communications Manager
ivy.tan@dhr.virginia.gov
804-482-6445
—The school opened in 1959 to serve Black students in Lancaster during the period of segregation in Virginia’s public schools—
—Text of marker reproduced below—
PLEASE NOTE: DHR creates markers not to “honor” their subjects but rather to educate and inform the public about a person, place, or event of regional, state, or national importance. In this regard, erected markers are not memorials.
RICHMOND – The Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) announced that a state historical marker approved by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources was dedicated October 4, 2025, highlighting Brookvale High School, a Lancaster County school that served Black students during the segregation period in Virginia’s public schools in the 20th century.
The dedication for the marker was held Saturday, October 4, at the marker’s location at 36 Primary School Circle in Lancaster (22503). The event was free and open to the public.
The dedication ceremony featured a lineup of speakers and stakeholders associated with the marker’s installment, including Frank J. Thornton, a former Latin and French teacher at Brookvale High School. DHR Historical Marker Program Manager Jennifer Loux attended the dedication on behalf of the department. Members of the 1969 Brookvale Championship Baseball Team led the marker unveiling.
Brookvale High School in Lancaster County opened to serve Black students in 1959, five years following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education declaring public school segregation unconstitutional. Brookvale replaced A. T. Wright High School, and the Crusaders Political and Social Club, a civil rights organization, met in the school building frequently. In 1969, the Brookvale Warriors won the last state baseball championship overseen by the Virginia Interscholastic Association, the league for Black schools. The county fully desegregated its schools in the fall of 1969. After that, the Brookvale building became an intermediate school. Brookvale’s last principal, Dr. Elton Smith Jr., later became Virginia’s first Black public school superintendent.
The Virginia Board of Historic Resources, which is authorized to designate new state historical markers, approved the manufacture and installation of the Brookvale High School historical marker in March 2025. The cost of the marker was covered by its sponsors, Chesapeake Bank, Stratford Hall Historic Preserve, and Citizens of The Northern Neck: Lancaster and Northumberland Counties. The dedication event was organized by the Save Brookvale History Committee, an independent citizens group in Lancaster County.
Virginia’s historical highway marker program began in 1927 with installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1. It is considered the oldest such program in the nation. Currently there are more than 2,600 state markers, mostly maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation, except in those localities outside of VDOT’s authority.
Full Text of Marker:
Brookvale High School
Lancaster Co. opened Brookvale High School to serve Black students in 1959, five years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared public school segregation unconstitutional. The building replaced the old A.T. Wright High School. The Crusaders Political and Social Club, a civil rights organization, met here frequently. In 1969 the Brookvale Warriors won the last state baseball championship overseen by the Virginia Interscholastic Association, the league for Black schools. Lancaster Co. fully desegregated its schools in the fall of 1969, and the Brookvale building became an intermediate school. Brookvale’s last principal, Dr. Elton Smith Jr., later became the first Black public school superintendent in VA.
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