A Short Biography of Patton J. Hill

Mr. Patton J. Hill, Sr.

    Patton J. Hill, Sr. (better known as P.J. Hill), was born in Coffeyville, Kansas, on January 12, 1895 and departed this life on February 4, 1982. Although he went to school in his hometown up to to first grade, the remainder of his schooling was obtained in Evansville, Indiana, the city he referred to as his "boyhood hometown". In spite of the abject poverty that haunted his early life, he managed to graduate from Indiana University in 1920. He served in the U.S. Army and spent a year in France during World War I. He taught school in West Virginia and Kentucky for eleven years before coming here November 4, 1933. Here in Trenton, he took over as principal of the former Lincoln Junior High, which later became Junior High #5.

    He became the first black principal of an American desegregated secondary school. During his days at Lincoln, he helped over 300 young men and women acquire the type of college education that best prepared them for life. He retired on May 1, 1958, after 25 years in the Trenton School System.

    P.J. Hill was honored by Indiana University as one of it's 250 outstanding graduates ( out of a group of over 200,000) and was awarded a certificate and silver medallion. He received another certificate by President Harry S. Truman and Governor Walter Edge for helping the FBI during World War II. In 1939 he was honored as an outstanding citizen by Mrs. Mary G Roebling and the George Washington Crossing Society.

    In November 1975, Patton J. Hill learned that our school would be named in his honor. The dedication took place November 14, 1977 and was one of the highlights of his life.

Mr. Hill visited P.J. Hill School and saw a holiday program. This picture was taken with some of the cast.

The photos below were taken from Mr. Hill's yearbook "Ye Arbutus" from 1920.