(L-R) Joe Evangelisti ’75 (alumnus who generated the marker idea), Jesse Turner, Jr. ’67 (the first African-American to enroll at CBHS), David Cook ’69 (band supporter and funder of the marker), Brother Chris Englert, FSC, president, and Brother Joel McGraw, FSC, ’63, assistant principal
Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tennessee, has been honored with a State of Tennessee Historical Commission marker.
Brother Chris Englert, FSC, school president, and Brother Terence McLaughlin, FSC, former Christian Brothers College president, unveiled the marker September 13 in front of the student body and more than 100 alumni and friends. Msgr. John B. McArthur ’66 blessed and dedicated the marker.
The development of the marker was several years in the making sparked by an idea and research of an alumnus. The two-sided marker not only commemorates the school as the oldest high school for boys in Memphis and highlights groundbreaking events that took place there (read the text), it also honors the deep tradition of the band which is the oldest high school band in the United States (read the text).
Tennessee’s Historical Markers Program began in the 1950s; it commemorates the locations of sites, people, and events that are significant in the state’s history.
Crowd gathered for the dedication