Location Information
(for the Smith Robertson School)
Name:Smith Robertson School
Address:520 Bloom Street
City/County:Jackson, Hinds County
Architectural Information
Construction Date:1909
Architectural Styles(s):Art Deco
No. of Stories:2
Registration Information
NR Listing Date:13 Dec 1978
NR District Name:Farish Street Neighborhood (1980)
    NR Status:Contributing
    Element No.:631
View National Register Nomination Form
Mississippi Landmark Information
Designated:01-05-1984
Recorded:02-02-1984
Book/Vol. No.:V. 2972, p. 438
Local Designation Information
Local District Name:Farish Street Historic District
click here for additional information on this district.
Context/Comments
Significant as the site of the first public school building for blacks in Jackson, and the parent school for all of Jackson's black community, Smith Roberson School was named for one of the city's most prominent black citizens of the nineteenth century, an early leader in education for African American children, newly freed from slavery. The later portion of the building which remains today is an early and quite sophisticated example of Art Deco style in Mississippi.

The school building was individually listed on the National Register on 13 December 1978. It was later included as element #631 in Farish Street Neighborhood Historic District, which was placed on the National Register on 13 March 1980. It was designated a Mississippi Landmark on 5 January 1984.

This building is included in "Jackson Landmarks" (1982) (pp. 174-175), "Jackson (Images of America)" (1998) (p. 84), and "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (pp. 251-252, JM35).