| Marker Text |
With the discovery of oil in Ector County in 1926, the area saw a continuous influx of people to work in the oil fields. As the general population grew so did student enrollment in area schools. As a result, on March 10, 1955, the Ector County Independent School District (ECISD) school board approved plans for a new high school to be built on a twenty-acre tract of land in the 800 block of West Clements Avenue on the south side of Odessa. The final plans called for a 164,052-square-foot building with thirty-two classrooms, an auditorium, band hall, gymnasium, library, cafeteria and workshops. Named after General Mathew Ector, a Civil War veteran and Texas legislator, the new high school opened in the fall of 1957. Prior to the school's opening, ECISD established a student committee to select a mascot and school colors. Students selected the Eagles and Columbia blue and white respectively and Ector High School officiall opened September 3, with an enrollment of 306 students. Being considered a 'minority school,' Ector's students were predominately Hispanic and African American. Beginning in 1974, the community of South Odessa began exerting pressure on the school district to fully desegregate. In 1981, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) filed a civil action to force ECISD to completely desegregate their schools. Instead of desegregating, Ector closed as a high school and became a junior high school while the current secondary students were sent to the other two area high schools. Ector High School's existence saw many successful athletic accomplishments including two state titles in basketball and one in track, produced many distinguished alumni and created multiple community leaders and social activitists. (2017) |
