| Merrill High School | |
| City: | Pine Bluff |
| State: | Arkansas |
| Country: | U.S. |
| Type: | Public |
| District: | Pine Bluff School District |
| Mottoes: | --> |
| Former Name: | Merrill Public School Merrill Institute |
| Founders: | --> |
| Authority: | --> |
| Category Label: | to override the default label --> |
| Oversight Label: | to override the default label --> |
| Specialists: | --> |
| Head Name: | to override the default label --> |
| Nursery Years Taught: | , |
| Primary Years Taught: | , |
| Secondary Years Taught: | for additional information --> |
| Gender Label: | to override the default label --> |
| Lower Age: | and |
| Upper Age: | --> |
| Age Range: | --> |
| Age Range: | --> |
| Enrolment: | --> |
| Enrolment As Of: | --> |
| Student Union Label: | to override the default label --> |
| Colours: | --> |
| School Colours: | --> |
| Nickname: | Pirates |
| Teams Label: | to override the default label --> |
| Rivals: | --> |
| Accreditations: | --> |
| Affiliations: | --> |
Merrill High School was a public secondary school in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, operated by the Pine Bluff School District. It was one of four high schools that served black students in the Pine Bluff area until the public schools were integrated in 1971.
Originally known as Merrill School, it was named for Joseph Merrill, a philanthropist from New Hampshire. In 1886 Merrill sold a two-story house and some adjoining land to the Pine Bluff School District, and donated money to African-Americans to remodel the house into a five room school.
Newspaper editor and publisher Jesse Duke was one of the people recruited to teach at Merrill School by Marion Rowlamd Perry Sr.[1]
Part of the school later burned, and was restored by the Works Progress Administration in 1939.[2]
Dollarway School District (DSD) sent older black students to Merrill High, as DSD did not have its own high school for either black or white students,[3] until Townsend Park High School opened in 1955.[4]
Merrill won back-to-back National Championships in Lamar Allen's freshman year of 1932 and again in 1933.[5]