When Tigers last roared at Rowe

Rowe Memorial / Charles Kerr

The last year that J.H. Rowe School existed as a high school in Jasper, head coach Clifton Williams led the Tigers to a football state championship in 1967.

The next year, Rowe opened as a middle school for grades 5 - 8, but a memorial at the northwest corner of the campus promises, "The memories of the original J.H. Rowe Educational Institute with its long and rich legacy ... will linger forever in the hearts and minds of all its alumni."

Williams recalls the final year at Rowe as both joyful and sad. "We won the state championship in a game against Hallsville. The game was played here in Jasper and I think the score was 56-12."

But after that, they sent 18 lettermen to the newly-integrated Jasper High School the next year.

He said parents called a meeting the last year to show pride and thankfulness, "and to wish those leaving well and encourage them to do their best." Williams recalls it was a big send off.

"There were no problems the year of integration. It went along real smooth," Williams said.

Williams remained at Rowe for a time, then became assistant principal at the junior high, and finally served as director of personnel until he retired 10 years ago.

The red brick memorial marks the entrance to the old Rowe school. Etched granite markers recount the founding in 1875 of the Jasper Training School for Negroes, established two miles east of Jasper at Cold Springs under the direction of J.W. Moore.

J.H. Rowe became the 18th principal and helped relocate the school to Jasper in 1924. Under his direction, the curriculum expanded to include home econ omics and

agriculture, and in 1928 it was accredited by the state as a high school. In 1933, the name changed to Jasper Negro High School.

When J.H. Rowe died in 1943, his son Oran Rowe became the 19th principal. The name was changed to J.H. Rowe School, and under the direction of the son continued to expand from five rooms to 15. The school also added an auditorium and a lighted football

stadium able to seat 2,000.

In 1956, Oran Rowe resigned to enter the ministry, and Sherman Coleman became principal. Under his administration the new building on U.S. Highway 190 East was added in 1964, and the school split into two campuses with Coleman as principal of the high school.

Most of the original buildings are gone, according to long-time counselor Jessie Palmer, who still serves at Jasper Junior High.

Metal plaques on the red brick walls at the memorial commemorate many of the graduates of Rowe High School.

The Jasper County Historic Commission in the Old Jail on the courthouse square has school yearbooks and Jasper NewsBoys on file for most of the years Rowe was a separate, segregated school.

The Jasper Historic Commission also has school census records dating from 1929. Volunteer Jeanette Pittman says they frequently are called on to provide certified copies of those records to use in lieu of a birth certificate when applying for Social Security.

For more information, contact the Historic Commission at 384-6441, or visit the Old Jail on the courthouse square Monday - Friday, noon to 5 p.m.