Built in 1824 and considered one of the finest schools in Boston, the Phillips School (originally the English High School) in Beacon Hill, educated only white students until 1855. Black students attended the underfunded and overcrowded Abiel Smith School on nearby Joy Street. Although the architect of the school has not been identified, stylistic evidence suggests that it represents the mature work of Asher Benjamin. English High School was founded in 1820 for the purpose of providing an education to “lads intending to become merchants or mechanics.” The disparities in quality of buildings and size of classes between the Abiel Smith School (for Black children) and the English High School (for white children). In response to this disparity in education, Black activists and their allies launched a long and successful effort to integrate the public schools which finally occurred in 1855 through an act of the legislature. With the passage of this law, Massachusetts became the first state to prohibit public school segregation and this school became one of the first integrated schools in the city. The school was named after Wendell Phillips, a white abolitionist from Boston. The school changed names numerous times, but closed in the mid-late 1900s. In 1983, the old school was converted to condominiums, which it remains to this day. The building is now a stop on Boston’s Black Heritage Trail.
