Solomon Coles (1844-1924) and Solomon Coles School

A former slave, Solomon Melvin Coles was born in Petersburg, Virginia. Before the Civil War, a sheriff disobeyed the law by teaching Coles to read. He worked his way through college beginning at Guilford Institute, Connecticut, as the first black student. He earned a bachelor's and a master's degree at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Divinity at Yale. He organized the Nazarene Congregational Church, First Black Congregationalist Church in Brooklyn, New York, before coming to Texas in 1877. Ordained in Goliad, Texas, he began preaching in Corpus Christi and teaching black students who only attended school two months of the year. In 1878, believing education essential to black children, Coles gave up the ministry to teach and serve as principal at the school in the 500 block of N. Carancahua. The school moved in 1893 to this site and was known as the Public Free School for Colored. The existing building was a converted broom factory. The following year Coles moved to San Antonio where he taught until his retirement in 1914. In 1925 this structure which served as a high school was built and named for Coles. In 1973 it became Solomon M. Coles Elementary School. (1978)

Solomon Coles (1844-1924) and Solomon Coles School is a historical marker in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, dedicated in 1978. It is one of 105 historical markers documented in Nueces County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 147 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 27.7997, -97.4001 near Corpus Christi. The nearest cataloged historic site is Old Bayview Cemetery (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Explosion of the Steamship Dayton, Old Bayview Cemetery, and Parker, Thomas S..

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5355006309. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.