Curry Street Sign

E.W.B. Curry honored by Delaware City

On Wednesday, Oct. 9, the City of Delaware unveiled an honorary street sign commemorating the life and work of Elmer Washington Bryant Curry (1871-1930), who was the first African American teacher in Delaware and founder of the Curry Institute.

The honorary street sign was installed on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 5:30 p.m. by the city on the corner of South Sandusky Street and London Road, and on the corner of Liberty and London roads. The dedication ceremony was hosted by the Delaware County Historical Society and the Second Ward Community Center.

Curry was born in Delaware and graduated from Delaware High School in 1889. He attended Michael College (a business school) and Ohio Wesleyan University.

In 1889, Curry, with few resources, started his own racially integrated school for students of all ages. This school soon evolved into an industrial (career) school where students learned practical trade skills.

The school’s first location was a kitchen shed in the rear of a house on David Street on the south side of the city, and tuition was 25 cents a week. He expanded his school to the Templar Hall at 17 N. Sandusky St., now the Kern Building, and later moved his school to Urbana in 1897, where the Curry Institute was open for 30 years.

An exhibit on Curry was featured in the Delaware County Historical Society’s Meeker Homestead Museum this spring. It is currently on loan to the Second Ward Community Center, located at 50 Ross St. Meeker Museum Curator Benny Shoults stated, “It is fitting this exhibit, the honorary street sign, and the story they tell finds its way into the neighborhood where Elmer Curry was born-and-raised and was the area of the city where he started the Curry Institute. It’s only right that Curry takes his place in the heritage of this community and the history of Delaware, something that should have been done many years ago.”

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The Delaware County Historical Society is a nonprofit institution. Our mission is to promote and sustain interest in the history of Delaware County, Ohio through historical preservation and education.