Ceremony celebrates latest additions to William Hooper Councill Park

HUNTSVILLE –  Alumni, city council members, Mayor Tommy Battle and other elected officials, luminaries and citizens gathered Tuesday to dedicate the final pieces of the master plan that created William Hooper Councill Park.

The park sits where the former Councill High School, named for the man who was born into slavery but later founded Alabama A&M University, once did before it was razed.

But the tradition that was the school, from its birth in a church basement in 1867 as Councill Training School until the last high school class graduated in 1966, filled the fall air.

For those too young to remember, or newcomers to Huntsville who aren’t well-versed in the city’s past, the high school and its earlier versions were where Black kids got public education from primary grades through high school during segregation. Councill’s doors closed as a school following integration, the building eventually fell into disrepair and was demolished.

Bricks and stones from the structure, however, were saved and are now part of the park. The four statues were added near an archway that represents the front of the old high school with an 8-foot tall monument to Councill placed as if he was welcoming students.

The city commissioned all of the statues that were created by artist and Johnson High School graduate Dan Burch.

John Meredith, who represents District 5 on the Huntsville City Council, knows something about Black history. His father, James H. Meredith, was the first Black student to enroll and graduate from the University of Mississippi.

“I’m truly, truly honored to be here today,” he said. “This is something that does not happen that often in America anymore, and that is the cultural recognition of how a certain class of people had to be educated because the largest society didn’t want them educated. It’s not often we get to look back in a constructive way at some of the differences that are instilled in our very natures.

“And education is one of those topics. Many of us here today got to go to any school we wanted to go to. We got to get the best quality of education our parents could afford us and our communities could provide us. Not all of us here today enjoyed that. And it’s an honor to be here with those, or some of those, that were not afforded that privileged life, but overcame what could have been an insurmountable obstruction.”

The park opened in 2020. City Councilman Devyn Keith joined the Council School Alumni Association in leading the effort to memorialize the school, its namesake, teachers and former students. Keith, though, said the park wasn’t just a celebration of that community. 

“It’s not just here to remember black history, African-American history. This is Huntsville history,” Keith, representative for District 1, said to the crowd. “You, what you have done and the generational impact you have made is the reason that Huntsville is the number one city in this nation.”

Jennifer Moore, president and CEO of the Huntsville-Madison County Convention & Tourism Board, told attendees the park and the latest monuments are a vital part of Huntsville’s story.

“The presence of this memorial confirms the importance the development of children has always had here, both past and present,” she said. “I’m pleased to celebrate our community, which by supporting this school since its inception and recognizing students who have achieved wonderful outcomes over the past 100 years, helps make a significant statement of who we are, our heritage, and our traditions.”