Lakewood Elementary School in Dallas is celebrating 75 years. Principal Brittany Thompson, who started during the COVID-19 pandemic, said she remembers teachers who worked to safely reopen the campus and teach students both in classrooms and online. She said she was "in awe of this community" and described the school as a unique, special place.
Kiley Crabb White, a Lakewood alumna and 75th Anniversary chairperson, said in a press release that the anniversary honors the families and neighbors who built the school's legacy. She said current students are now part of that story.
According to the history book "Lakewood 1925-1985: A History of the Shopping Center," the school was set to open in September 1951 but opened on Jan. 28, 1952, because of a national building materials shortage. The Dallas Board of Education bought land for the school in 1929, but World War II and the Great Depression delayed construction. Voters approved funding in the October 1949 bond election, and the campus was built at Sondra Drive and Hillbrook Street. Almost 400 students in first through seventh grades attended at first. About 2,000 visitors came to the open house in March 1952.