By 1883, the scholastic population of Commerce had outgrown the public school which opened ten years earlier. Land at this site, purchased by the Commerce Educational Assoc., was chosen for a new schoolhouse. The first building here, a two-story frame structure, became Commerce High School. Destroyed by fire in 1898, it was replaced by a larger brick building that served as Commerce High and later as Central Ward School. A third building, completed in 1937, was renamed in 1950 to honor A. L. Day, who served as superintendent of Commerce Schools, 1900-1935. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986