By Mike Finney

DOVER — Damage from a tornado that spawned out of Tropical Storm Isaias on Aug. 4, 2020, condemned William Henry Middle School and displaced nearly a thousand students.

Coincidentally, under a tornado watch Wednesday afternoon, school officials hosted a rededication and ribbon-cutting at the Capital School District facility, as staff prepares to host students for in-person learning Tuesday.

“It’s such a pleasure to be here for this grand reopening of this historical site,” said Dr. Vilicia Cade, district superintendent. “A tornado associated with a tropical storm touched down on William Henry and Booker T. Washington’s campus (last summer).

“As a result, the roof on the main gym was destroyed and roof leaks from multiple wings caused significant water damage across the northern section of the building. Therefore, this historical building was deemed unsafe for human occupancy and use last year.”

Nearby Booker T. Washington Elementary was undamaged.

A sign adjacent to the ceremony read, “There’s no place like home,” which indirectly paid homage to another famous tornado — the one that twisted through “The Wizard of Oz.”

More than $9 million was needed to repair William Henry Middle, located on Carver Road. Many individuals in the community worried that an enormous piece of Dover’s African American history might have vanished had the school not been restored.

When the building opened as a high school in 1952, it was just the third one for African Americans in Delaware and the only one in Dover for Black students.

So members of the William Henry High School Alumni Association were thrilled that the building was resuscitated.

“It’s very, very important (to keep William Henry alive),” said Beverly Minus Wyatt, president of the alumni association. “I really loved my school, so it’s very important. At William Henry, it was like we were a family. Everybody was united. We came together in the community and came here to get our education.”

The building closed after the 1965-66 school year, following the Supreme Court ruling to integrate schools, and reopened as a middle school in 1967.

The school is named after William W.M. Henry, a 1902 graduate of Delaware State College and the first Black physician to practice in lower Delaware.

Dr. Cade thanked former Capital Interim Superintendent Dr. Sylvia Henderson and Interim Assistant Superintendent Ade Kuforiji for their work in making sure the building was preserved.

“They worked tirelessly with legislators like Trey Paradee, the Department of Education and the state insurance office to secure the funding to restore this historical facility,” Dr. Cade said. “Contact was made with the district’s senators and representatives, asking them to support a bond bill to bring back William Henry.

“This funding, along with ABHA Architects and our construction manager, Richard Y. Johnson & Son, is why we can open the doors for approximately 1,000 fifth and sixth grade students this school year.”

Dr. Henderson called the journey to restore the legacy of William Henry “a rather laborious process,” as she got the task rolling.

“No other district in the state of Delaware has had to go through this, and so this was the first time for the state and particularly Capital School District,” she said at a school board meeting in mid-February. “The work that went into (it) — this has taken up a lot of our time, and not to mention that we’re in a pandemic.”

Dr. Cade thanked Central Middle School for hosting William Henry’s staff and students in 2020-21, as they had no home of their own.

She added that it took teamwork from the district’s insurance company, the Delaware Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, ABHA Architects and Capital officials to assess the damage and determine the path forward.

The superintendent looked out at the members of the school’s alumni association and realized what the brick building behind her meant to those individuals, she said.

“I want each of you to know that I thank you for being the pioneers to always go the extra step to ensure that this facility remains a historical landmark in the city, and it is on your shoulders that I stand, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Dr. Cade noted.

“I know that William Henry historically was the third African American high school in the state because I just got a history lesson from the alumni. I’m humbled, and I’m grateful as the first African American female to be superintendent of the Capital School District.”