Martin Luther King Avenue holds the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in the former Excelsior School. This institution, once called the Excelsior Museum and Cultural Center, occupies the former Excelsior School — St. Augustine’s first black public high school — and opened as a museum in 2005. Lincolnville itself was originally a separate town, settled by freed Black slaves after the American Civil War, and this building has been part of that story for generations.
The first public school for African American children in St. Augustine was built in 1901, and the high school known as "School #2" or "the Colored School" was built here in 1925. It was designed by St. Augustine architect Fred A. Henderich and renamed Excelsior in 1928. Among its alumni are NFL star Willie Galimore and local civil rights leaders Henry and Kat Twine.
Excelsior School closed in 1968 and was used for several years for local government offices before becoming the museum you see today. Picture NFL star Willie Galimore and civil rights leaders Henry and Kat Twine once walking these halls as students at Excelsior School.