BATON ROUGE - This week in WBRZ history, a massive fire raged at the site of the old McKinley High School in 1998. 

The fight to extinguish the fire went on for hours, and the next morning, demolition crews were on the scene, tearing down decades of a building that carried so much Black history in the capital city. For more than 40 years, McKinley was the only high school in Baton Rouge for Black people. 

The school was ultimately restored in 2006 after years of false starts and red tape. 

Watch more of WBRZ’s celebration of 70 years of local and community-driven coverage on YouTube at the playlist below: