The school was founded as Hall School because it was founded in an abandoned dance hall on West Seventh Street in Pine Bluff. In 1915, C.P. Coleman, a graduate of the all-black Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi took the position of principal as well as the entire faculty, with a student body of 50. In 1950, the school had a faculty of 23, a student body of 900, and had moved to West 13th street. The campus included a $30,000 high school building as well as an elementary building and a home economics center. The school gymnasium was at that time the only gym for Negro children in the county. In 1951, a fireproof high school building and a science lab were added on an adjacent tract of land.[citation needed]
On April 15, 1970 there was a shooting resulting in five injuries and one death.[1]
As of 2016, Coleman Elementary occupies the campus.[3][unreliable source?] Earnest C. Smith, a guidance scientist who developed NASA's lunar rover, at one time taught mathematics at Coleman.[4][unreliable source?]