Flooding
Washington School and the community it served were located on flood-prone ground. Stillwater Creek, which runs just behind the building, frequently inundated the area. The occurrence of flooding and the existence of racial segregation was not accidental, but fairly common. After a notably devastating series of floods in 1935, 1941, 1942, and 1943, Washington School students were asked to assist Oklahoma A&M Sociology Professor J.F. Page with the compilation of a report that detailed how such events impacted the more than 400 residents of Stillwater’s Black community, “as in cities generally, there is a close correspondence in Stillwater between the topographical elevation of residence and social elevation,” the report concluded. Flooding was regular enough that some residents referred to the area around Washington School as “the Bottoms.” A Stillwater Gazette article from May 28, 1920, described, “the low, swampy lands in the southwestern part of Stillwater, within the city limits, but far from paved streets and modern conveniences which city taxpayers have a right to demant…”
Approximately 104 families lived within the boundaries of West 10th and 13th streets, between Washington and Duck. The area most vulnerable to flooding included more than a third of all the homes and businesses of the Black community. In 1943, 37 families had their homes inundated with flood water and sewage from over-whelmed pipes; these waters “also seeped into the school building, under the floors, and made it necessary to remove the floor furnace from the building and clean it.”
This may have been part of the reason Washington School students were instructed by Principal Lee A. Ward to help with gathering information for Page’s report; which, in the tradition of supporting uplift through raising educational and living standards, recognized that, “the families who live in the flood area cannot aspire to high levels of living in regard to modern houses, or furnishings for their houses, which the prospect of having them water-soaked each year.”
Gaining fair access to even basic city services took time; roads remained unpaved, trash collection inconsistent, and electricity unreliable. Ironically, in an area so constantly threatened by water, 55% of families found it necessary to get water from neighbors as it was not available in their own homes. The surveys conducted by Washington School students revealed that as late as 1943, only 5 percent of families had sufficient plumbing for indoor toilets.
Such events are also not limited to the distant past – the most recent flooding of the area occurred in 2019 (as shown above).