Gabe Meyer School

The Gabe Meyer School is a part of our series The City Left Behind. Above you will find a trailer for the series. This location can be found in Episode Two The City Left Behind: Disappearing Children of Pine Bluff’s Abandoned Schools. Click here to view the playlists and subscribe to keep up with each episode!

Named after one of Pine Bluffs’ early settlers, the land for Gabe Meyer School was allegedly purchased by the school board in 1913 with his advisement. Gabe Meyer was known as “the Father of PB Schools” so when the board met to decide a name for the new school it was voted unanimously to name it after the Pine Bluffian.

It wasn’t until 1921 that the construction permits were issued to finally begin work on the Gabe Meyer School. Contractor J.J. Swim was selected for the project at $30,000, Robinson Bros would handle the plumbing and Pine City Electric Co. would do the electrical wiring totaling around $50,000 total for the construction. While construction was happening on the school the grounds were also receiving work. Beautifying of the landscape was well underway and included cutting down 31 large trees, leaving just 12. Shrubbery and a concrete yard were planned for a playground.

G. Maynard was selected to be the first principal of the new school. Its limits were “the West Eighteenth to Elm thence south on Elm to Twenty-first to Main then to the school limit districts. It enrolled students first through sixth grade.

The school went on to become a beloved fixture within the town of Pine Bluff, faithfully serving many generations and helping to positively shape countless childhoods.  Generations of dedicated teachers lovingly tended to the growth and education of the town’s youth.  Year after year, decade after decade, and generation after generation the children came to learn and the teachers taught. And today, if you asked five lifetime residents of Pine Bluff where they attended school, 4 of those people would say at Gabe Meyer.

It stopped being used as a district school in the 1980s and then Gabe Meyer hosted students as a contracted Head Start facility for a time until around 2012. It then sat vacant for two years.

When news broke that Gabe Meyer and Sixth Avenue schools would be demolished in 2014, Pine Bluff historian Paul Perdue began working to save the front of the school to use as an entrance to a community park to replace the building. He says “I’m proposing saving the front wall and turning the rest of the block into a park in order to save a little piece of history. It’s a trend that has worked well in Fort Smith and Memphis…”

“Pine Bluff will lose yet another historical landmark next week unless we can convince the City to at least save the front wall of Gabe Meyer and turn the rest of the block into a green space. This trend is spreading across the country and it sure beats having another vacant lot in town. Please contact your City Council member and anyone you know with the City about this. This idea will get Pine Bluff much-needed positive publicity, plus historic preservation and architectural recognition.”

Through a successful GoFundMe that raised over $6,000, the facade was saved from demolition. The news was great for Perdue and all those that grew up at Gabe Meyers. That was until a month later, a child was climbing on the facade causing bricks to fall and injure him. That was all the school district needed to then swiftly finish the job.

Gallery Below of Gabe Meyer School

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