About

The William Syphax School was originally conceived as a school that would hold the values of the man it was named after. William Syphax himself was a slave born on the plantation of Martha Washington’s grandson George Washington Parke Curtis. Little is known about his life but in 1850, he became one of the founding members of “the Civil and Statistical Association for the educational, moral, and financial advancement of area African Americans.” During his time in service, William Syphax worked to advance the rights of African Americans in numerous ways, and education was at the forefront of his efforts, as he attempted to introduce integration instead of segregation in schools and other attempted policy changes.

 

In the very late 1800s, it was decided that a school was to be erected in honor of William Syphax and his strides taken for educational advancement. Construction on the school was completed in 1901. In subsequent years, additions and renovations were made to the school and its surrounding area, such as the addition of several housing complexes, as well as renovations to the building in 1941 and 1953.

 

It ceased serving as a school in 1994. Three years later, the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly began to seek out a developer and found Manna, which purchased the school in 1999. The old school building was officially declared a historic landmark in 2003, but the newer buildings were razed starting in 2001. Manna redeveloped the school and built surrounding townhouses, which opened in 2005 collectively as Syphax Village.