Marietta Honors Lemon Street School

Marietta mayor Steve Tumlin and Ward 5 City Councilman Anthony Coleman honored Lemon Street School in recognition of its importance to the city's history. They presented a proclamation to Louis Walker and his wife, Josetta, on June 9.

The Lemon Street school for African American students was constructed of wood and completed in 1894. The Lemon Street School offered seven years of education. In 1947, Marietta City Council toured Lemon Street Elementary School and was shocked to find the school in bad condition. The wood school, heated with coal stoves, was a fire hazard. The city of Marietta began construction on a safe brick building. The new Lemon Street Elementary School opened in 1950.

In 1968, the school board changed the name of Lemon Street Elementary School to Eastside School. The next year, now known as Central Elementary, the school became home for the city's sixth grade classes. After Marietta Junior High School was completed in 1971 on Aviation Road, the school system no longer needed the Lemon Street facility and the school was closed. Since then, the building has been used for several purposes including the site of the Hattie Wilson Library. 

Josetta Walker graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Tuskegee University in 1966 and joined her husband, Louis, in Marietta. She taught in a variety of schools. She received an Education Specialist degree from the University of West Georgia. In 1988 she was an Assistant Principal of Marietta High School and was the first female African American administrator in the City of Marietta school system.

Louis Walker attended Sumter County Training School and graduated from Tuskegee University in 1965 with a Bachelor's degree in Trade and Industrial Education. Walker accepted a position with Lemon Street High School in 1965, teaching for one year. In 1966 he was one of three African American teachers who were selected to transfer to Marietta High School in advance of the integration of the school system. Mr. Walker taught Industrial Arts at Marietta High School from 1966 to 1971. Walker received a Master's degree in Trade and Industrial Education from the University of Georgia in 1973.

Both Josetta and Louis are longtime members of Zion Baptist Church in Marietta.

"It's been a labor of love for us to be here all these years in Marietta City Schools and also to have the opportunity to work in the old Zion heritage Museum and the Lemon Street School," Josetta Walker said.