In Middlesex County, just off of General Puller Highway adjacent to St. Clare Walker Middle School stands a historical marker dedicated to the school’s namesake and his achievements as an educator.
John Henry St. Clare Walker was born in 1876 and lived near the Mill Pond in Haleys, Virginia. At that time, there were no schools for black children, but St. Clare Walker learned to read in the home of a white family that recognized his passion for learning.
St. Clare Walker joined the army and fought in the Spanish-American War. Afterwards, he attended the Hampton Institute. He was able to attend classes in the summer and teach in the winter months. With this as his schedule, he completed a B.A. and M.A. in Education. The Institute became his source for books and other resource materials as he dedicated his life to bringing education to blacks in Middlesex County.
St. Clare Walker taught first in Lancaster County, in a one-room school at Merry Point. He came to Middlesex County to help build a four-room school named “Dunbar” on property belonging to First Baptist Church in Amburg. Although the school is no longer there, it remains the historic beginning of “formal” education for black children in the county. St. Clare Walker stayed there, as an instructor, for 20 years. 
Later, St. Clare Walker was appointed as the principal of the Middlesex Training School. The original building that housed the school burned in 1936, however, the school moved to a white building that is still standing on Rt. 33 in Locust Hill. St. Clare Walker remained the principal there for approximately 20 years. His goals included gaining accreditation for the school. Many of the salaries he paid to qualified teachers were supplemented from his own salary. Eventually, the teachers were put on the School Board payroll.
In April 2018 the NAACP announced and unveiled the historical marker dedicated to St. Clare Walker. The text of the marker is as follows:
African American residents of Middlesex County established the Langston Training School (later the Middlesex Training School) in 1917 to serve elementary and high school students. The Rosenwald Fund supported construction of a new building ca. 1921. John Henry St. Clare Walker, principal for two decades, expanded the high school curriculum from two to four years despite inadequate funding. The high school moved here in 1939. Later renamed in Walker’s honor, it was among the first rural high schools for black students to be accredited by the Virginia Department of Education. Students garnered awards for academics, athletics, and the arts. The county’s school system was desegregated in 1969.
Information courtesy of St. Clare Walker Middle School
