The early education of Mattie Thomas was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama after the turn of the century. She attended Payne Normal School in Selma, Alabama. She graduated summa cum laude from what was the Alabama State Teacher’s College in Montgomery, Alabama and during World War II took courses towards her master’s degree. Her earliest teaching assignment was at Wilmer Elementary School, which was associated with the Mobile County Public School System. She was relocated to be a teacher in the Meachem Elementary School in Mobile, Alabama in 1916. Mattie Thomas was made an assistant principal after the death of Ella Grant in 1937. Mrs. Blount served the community until her death at the age of forty nine and is buried in Oaklawn Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama. She was a member of Samuel Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mattie Thomas married Solomon M. Blount on December 27, 1930 at the age of thirty-four. There were no known children to this union. Mr. Blount was not a Mobilian and it is believed that he was responsible for getting the Prichard School name changed in honor of another outstanding educator, Ms. Ella Grant, in March 1944. As a request from the citizens of Prichard, Alabama in 1953, Engine Street School was renamed in honor of Mattie T. Blount on September 12, 1956. As the school population in the community grew it became necessary to add a grade each year. The school held its first commencement exercise in 1958.
Through the years, Mattie T. Blount High School “Home of the Leopards” has grown and prospered as an educational institution.
Mattie Thomas Blount High School
Mattie T. Blount High School was established in 1953 as a junior high school known as the Engine Street School. In 1956, the Prichard community, represented by the Engine Street PTA, requested that the Mobile County Board of High School Commissioners change the school’s name to Mattie T. Blount High School in honor of this dedicated and accomplished educator. In August 1956, the request was granted and students entered the newly titled Mattie T. Blount High School. After almost 50 years, the school moved into its current facility in 2005.
Our facility has 73 classrooms and can accommodate 1,400 students. We have a state of the art auditorium with a seating capacity of 774. In the 2013-2014 school year the academic direction shifted to improve the quality of education for BHS students. It was at that time the first of four academies were established—the Academy of Allied Health (Clinical Services) Entry and Advanced. In 2014-2015 three other academies were implemented: the Academy of Business Management Administration, Information Technology, Marketing Sales & Promotion; Academy of Human Services and JROTC Leadership; and the Academy of Construction, Manufacturing and Transportation (FCTC).
The football facility includes seating for 6,500 attendees as well as two full concession areas, official rubberized track, press box, and areas for long jump, pole vault, and discus throwing. The gymnasium has a full size regulation basketball court which includes a seating capacity of 2,700, three regulation volleyball courts, training rooms, weight rooms, and boys and girls locker rooms. In 2013 a Fieldhouse was added next to the stadium.
