Louis Edwin Fry Sr. was born January 10, 1903 in Bastrop, Texas. Following graduation, Fry left Bastrop to attend Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College, where he earned a bachelor of science in mechanic arts in 1922. In 1923, Fry enrolled at Kansas State University in Manhattan and earned a bachelor of science in agricultural engineering in 1927.
Fry returned to Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College to teach math and engineering. Fry was asked by the campus architect to design a new dormitory for women (Evans Hall) in 1928. He also designed a fifty-bed hospital in 1929 in Prairie View which was demolished in the 1980s.
In 1927, Fry married Obelie Swearinger of Kansas City, Missouri. They had two children together: Louis Jr. and Gladys.
In 1929, Fry returned to Kansas State University and earned a master of science in architecture a year later. Afterwards, he was hired by Albert Irvin Cassell as a senior designer at Howard University. In 1935, he received an offer to work at Tuskegee Institute to teach architectural classes.
Fry died in his sleep on June 13, 2000.
Source: Wilson, Dreck Spurlock. (Eds.). (2004). African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865-1945. Routledge.
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