The Ausherman Family Foundation helped to fund the creation of the Elks Lodge Mural honoring some of Frederick’s first Black educators. 

In 1920, John Bruner, an educational leader in the African American community, asked the board of Education to purchase a plot of land for a high school on West all Saints Street, which contained a small one-story stone building. Sanborn maps indicate that the structure was also once a part of “Louis McMurray’s Canning Establishment” as a “Tin House.” This small building was to become the first formal high school building for African Americans in Frederick County.

After purchasing the building, it was then renovated to accommodate the first 28 students who enrolled in classes which started on September 5, 1920. Maurice Reid was the principal of the school, and only teacher. By the 1921-1922 school year, enrollment increased to 50 students. The 1922 Sanborn map labels the building as “Colored School” and indicates “No lights, Heat Stove.” The small school continued to grow, however, and it became necessary to expand once again. The board of Education purchased land on Madison Street to construct a new modern school, in 1923. In the summer of 1924, 12 students who began classes at the West All Saints Street school marched down the aisle, graduating from the new Lincoln High School, and received their diplomas. Lincoln High School remained the only African American high school in Frederick County for the next 35 years.

The Kindergarten Association of Frederick was formed in October 1937 to meet the needs of African American families who wanted to enroll their children in preparation for elementary school, since public schools did not offer kindergarten classes. In 1949, the Kindergarten Association was renamed after longtime Frederick educator Esther E. Grinage. Grinage died in 1947 after having taught in African American elementary schools in Frederick for 35 years.