Murrell Dobbins Career & Technical Education High School, also known as Murrell Dobbins Vocational High School, is a historic
vocational school building located in the
West Lehigh neighborhood of
North Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania,
United States. It is part of the
School District of Philadelphia. The building was designed by
Irwin T. Catharine
Irwin Thornton Catharine (October 22, 1883 – March 3, 1944) was the chief architect of Philadelphia Public school (government funded), public schools from 1920 until his retirement in 1937. Buildings built during Catharine's tenure ranged from ...
and built in 1936–1937. It is a six- to seven-story, 14-bay, brick building in the
Moderne
Moderne may refer to:
* Moderne architecture, styles of architecture popular from 1925–1940s
* PWA Moderne, an architectural style in the U.S., 1933–1944
* Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco archit ...
-style. It has a one-story, stone front building. It features brick piers with
terracotta tops and the building has terra cotta trim.
[ ''Note:'' This includes ]
The school is the home of the Mustangs and the school colors are Flame and Steel. Murrell Dobbins offers 12 CTE programs: Barbering, Biotechnology, Building & Property Maintenance, Business Administration, Commercial & Advertising Arts, Computer Networking, Cosmetology, Culinary Arts, Digital Media, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Music Production. Dobbins athletics consist of Football, Cross-Country, Volleyball, Soccer, Basketball, Indoor Track, Bowling, Cheerleading, Badminton, Baseball, Softball and Outdoor Track.
History
The Dobbins building was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The namesake, Murrell H. Dobbins (1843-1917), was a New Jersey-born man who became a member of the Philadelphia school board.
At one point the school had two campuses and was known as the Dobbins/Randolph Area Vocational Technical School. It had absorbed the Randolph Skills Center, named after
Asa Philip Randolph.
Notable alumni
*
Benjamin Britt
Benjamin Franklin (Ben) Britt (1923–1996) was a figurative, surrealist and abstract painter, and art teacher. His subjects were African American culture, religion and children, which he captured in oil and charcoals. Britt signed his works ...
, surrealist painter
*
Hank Gathers,
college basketball player
*
Gregory "Bo" Kimble,
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
player.
*
Dawn Staley
Dawn Michelle Staley (born May 4, 1970) is an American basketball Hall of Fame player and coach, who is currently the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Staley won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA as a player and later was head co ...
, head coach of women's basketball at University of South Carolina; 3-time Olympian
*
Doug Overton
Douglas M. Overton (born August 3, 1969) is an American retired professional basketball player and coach.
Playing career
Prior to his NBA career, Overton spent a season with the Illawarra Hawks of the Australian NBL. He credits his experience ...
, retired professional basketball player and current head coach of the Springfield Armor of the NBA Development League.
*
Jami M. Valentine, Ph.D., Physicist, first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics from Johns Hopkins University. Dobbins class of 1992.
*
Bobby Eli
Bobby Eli is an American musician, arranger, composer and record producer from Philadelphia. He is a founding member and lead guitarist of Philadelphia studio band MFSB.
Overview
A multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter and arranger, Eli ...
, Philly Soul guitarist, songwriter, producer, arranger. Founding member of
MFSB.
*
Thom Bell, Philly Soul songwriter, producer and arranger.
External links
Murrell Dobbins Career and Technical Education High School*
*
References
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia
Moderne architecture in Pennsylvania
School buildings completed in 1937
Dobbins, Murrell, Vocational School
Dobbins, Murrell, Vocational School
Dobbins, Murrell, Vocational School
Dobbins, Murrell, Vocational School
School District of Philadelphia
Public high schools in Pennsylvania
1937 establishments in Pennsylvania
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