W.F. Powell Elementary School is located in the northern side of Camden, New Jersey. The student population is approximately 220 with approximately 50 certified staff and support staff. We serve students in Pre-Kindergarten through third grade.
William Frank Powell
(1844-1921)
The school was built in 1926 and was originally known as the Tenth Street School. It became William Frank Powell School in honor of a remarkable black leader who graduated from the Collegiate Institute of New York in 1865. After teaching African American freedmen at the Presbyterian Board of Home Mission in Leesburg, VA., Powell established the first state school for African American children in Alexandria, VA. In 1884, Powell became principal of a school in Bordentown, NJ. William F. Powell was shortly elected superintendent of schools in the fourth district of developing and implementing teacher-training programs. He was also among the first to incorporate manual skills in the school curriculum, and he set up the first industrial training program in the district. Under his extraordinary guidance, black Administrators and teachers successfully transformed the city public school into a competitive and effective educational system.
Powell’s unremitting devotion to the Republican Party in the state of New Jersey brought him national recognition, and he consequently served as United States Charge d’Affaire to the Dominican Republic until 1904. In 1907, President William McKinley appointed him United States Minister to Haiti.
Powell’s legacy has become one of outstanding leadership and contributions in the political and educational fields. Furthermore, he has instilled all member of Camden City’s community not only with an increased sense of achievement, pride, and independence, but also with the hope and inspiration of our future generations of students, teachers, and administrators for a promising and successful future.
