Residential units represent a big change for the Baker property that had been a school site since 1871. According to the city school system, this building opened in 1940 as a replacement for the worn-out original. Closed as an elementary school in 1979, the building was renamed for a former principal, Katherine L. Johnson, and was used as an alternative school for troubled middle and high school students until 2013 when RPS vacated the building.
