Published 5:44 am Saturday, June 27, 2026
By Robin Y. Richardson
Following this past month’s demolition of the M.W. Dogan Elementary School building in Marshall, alumni are rallying June 27 for a special memorial campus gathering.
The event is set from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the site of the former campus, 2007 Dogan St. With the theme, “The Way We Were,” the gathering will serve as a special reunion for the classes of 1948 to 1981.
A barbecue will follow from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Smith Park, 700 Spring St. Alumni will then don their formal attire for a night of dinner and dancing from 6 to 9:30 p.m., also at Smith Park.
“This will be a historical event,” said Clarice Watkins, retired Harrison County Pct. 2 justice of the peace and reunion committee member from the Dogan Class of 1968. “So many individuals attended Dogan, and it will be a great time of remembrance for all.”
The historically Black elementary school was constructed in 1949. W.J. White, who was the first principal at New Town Elementary School, was named principal of Dogan until his death in 1950. Price T. Young, who had been a science teacher at Pemberton High School, was named to succeed White at Dogan. Records show Fred Lewis was principal around 1977, and Charles Wilborn was Dogan’s principal in 1979. Faculty members at that time included 17 teachers and several aides and secretaries.
Records from 1979 show the school was serving third-through sixth-graders living in the western portion of Marshall. At the time, the Title 1 federally funded school offered a special spring track program, a reading inventory program, a conceptually oriented mathematics program, a sixth-grade band, organized physical education, choir, and music.
Dogan Elementary operated until 1981. It closed following the adoption of Marshall ISD’s desegregation plan. Since its closure, it had been privately owned within the historical New Town Neighborhood. The building was demolished in late May and the land listed for sale.
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