History - "Telling Our Own Story"
Douglass Park High School: 1946-1948
Prior to 1946, colored students ( from elementary to high school) were housed in the same school building within their communities. In September of 1946, the Norfolk County School Board mandated that the Douglass Park school open as an official high school that would include the twelfth grade as well as all grade levels. Under Principal William Weaver and Assistant Principal Edward Cox, the high school students were exposed to an extended curriculum, such as health and physical education, agricultural education, auto mechanics, and brick masonry. The following student organizations were formed as extra curriculum activities: student council, girls’ and boys’ basketball teams, and a football team. There were twenty faculty members for the entire school. Since the atomic bomb was dropped and made a tremendous impact on Japan and the world in 1945, Douglass Park High School chose as its logo, “Bomber”. Blue and Gold were chosen as the school’s colors. The class of 1947 published the school’s first yearbook, “The Douglass” and June 1947 produced a class of twenty-eight (28) proud graduates.
Norfolk County High School: 1949 - 1954
Because of an increase in the student population at Douglass Park High School, students were moved in September 1949, to a larger building, located in the Cavalier Manor section of what is now the City of Portsmouth. This school was known as Norfolk County High School. The grades were seventh through twelfth, and there was an expanded curriculum which included driver’s education, chorus, band, and home economics. Students could also participate in math, science and yearbook clubs.
It was September 9, 1950, when more than 200 students had come from the communities of Bells Mill, Crestwood, Deep Creek, Providence, Gilmerton, Cornland, and South Norfolk to become part of the already established Norfolk County High School. Other students had come from Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, North Carolina, and Suffolk. As a result of this consolidation of small “colored” schools from all over the county and beyond, Norfolk County High School soon became inadequate for the large number of students. In addition, there was no gymnasium; it was difficult for adequate team sport practice and competitive rival school games to be played at the school; the cafeteria was used as the multipurpose room; the classrooms were small; and, the halls were narrow. Nonetheless, many of the graduates excelled, enrolled into colleges, and were academically and professionally prepared to enter the work force in a variety of occupations.
During the 1951-52 school year, students who returned to NCHS to discovered that some of their friends and classmates from South Norfolk were being sent to enroll into the new George Washington Carver High School (formerly Providence High School) in South Norfolk. Rev. F.D. Nance was the principal and Mr. Charles Brabble became principal a year later. Mr. Weaver, who championed the need for a larger school for African Americans in Norfolk County, passed before the 1954 school year. Mr. Clifton A. Woods became principal of Norfolk County High School after Mr. Cox served as principal for one year, and ushered in the movement into the new Crestwood High School built in the Crestwood section of Norfolk County.
Crestwood High School: 1954 - 1971
As the number of Blacks in Norfolk County that sought to receive an education increased, the need for a larger facility grew. Through the urging of Black community advocates at school board meetings, along with the many letters written and submitted by Mr. Weaver, the Norfolk County School Board voted in 1951 to build a new school in the Crestwood area. Crestwood was a housing development built by Oscar F. Smith for the “colored” community, of which many worked at his Smith Douglas Fertilizing Plant during the World War II years. The history of our glorious Crestwood High School began long before the erection of the physical structure, as we, the Bombers, represent a people not just a building. The Crestwood community, as well as the other Black communities in Norfolk County supported Crestwood High, and helped it grow into the academic and athletic stalwart it became. Students came from all over the county from great elementary schools such as Bells Mill, Crestwood, Southeastern, Southwestern, and Cavalier Manor, students would spend their high school years being groomed, educated, counseled and nurtured by the faculty and staff at Crestwood High.
Teachers like Mrs. Duke, Mrs. Pitt, Mrs. Moody Mrs. Wood, Mr. Harrell, Mr. Owens, Mr. Scott, Mr. Sanford, just to name a few helped mold their students into productive and well-prepared citizens.
Although Crestwood High existed as a high school for only 18 years, it established a lifelong legacy through its students that continues even today. In the sixties, it earned the state’s highest ratings of all the city’s high schools, and was once hailed as the finest high school in Chesapeake by the State Department.
Some noted achievements included:
“Crestwood First in Electronics”
“Crestwood Youth Wins Yale Grant”
“Crestwood Rates High in Evaluation” overall 4.7
“Top places given in science and math contest”. Pupils won 22 awards
“Crestwood High School students named among the top 50 Chemistry students in Virginia at State Science Fair”
“Crestwood’s band and chorus, under the leadership of Mr. Owens and Mr. Sanford, respectfully,
also excelled and rated high in regional and state competitions”
This “country school”, as it was often referred to, produced graduates, starting with that first graduating class in 1955, who became scientists, teachers, lawyers, judges, doctors, dancers, singers, chief executive officers of large corporations, entrepreneurs, college professors, principals, school administrators and superintendents, fire fighters, school board members, policeman, auditors, artists, community leaders, secretaries, construction workers, labors, professional athletes, city managers, legislators, members of the military services, and many more professions. All made significant impacts on the quality of our lives and communities in which they lived. The beginning of the end for Crestwood as a high school began in the early seventies. Amid cries of injustice and discrimination, graduates, students, parents, educators, legislators, and many others marched in support of Crestwood High School remaining a high school. They marched to the school board administration building and staged sit-ins in the school gym to protest the proposed closing. Despite all efforts, Crestwood High School was converted into Crestwood Junior High in September 1971.
Crestwood High School may no longer exist, but nothing can destroy the legacy and impact that its students and staff have made in every walk of life. From the Friday night dances in the auxiliary gym, to exciting football games at Weaver Stadium, the Bombers have shone brightly and enjoyed years at this great institution. “The uniqueness, the strong impression, the mystique, and the spirit of Crestwood High School lives on in us, its graduates, who continue to strive for excellence in every area of our lives as we endeavor to give back and to help our neighbors.” This quote of Ethel Mitchell (’65) aptly describes the desire and focus of the newly formed Crestwood High School Alumni Association. The Crestwood High Alumni Association, Inc., formed in April 2018, was established to not only preserve those memories and educate the public about the accomplishments of Crestwood High students, but also focus on assisting students at all levels wherever our graduates live.
Bomber Faculty and Staff
A History of Yearbooks
From
1946
To
1971
Alma Mater
Hail to thy lovely halls
Crestwood High School
We are here when duty calls
Crestwood High School
Faithful and ever true
We’ll be to you
For in our hearts
We still love you.
We’ll cherish thy precepts
We’ll honor thy name
And do our best
To bring thee fame
Hail to thy lovely halls
Crestwood High School
We are here when duty calls
Crestwood High School