The Caney Fork School, also known as the Maynard Colored School, was completed in 1922. The one-teacher type school was constructed for $2,000. The Rosenwald Fund provided $500, and the local community funded the rest. The school was used until 1933, when the county consolidated all Black schools into one school.
Glynn Academy, founded on February 1, 1788, is the second oldest high school in Georgia and the fifth oldest in the U.S. Originally serving all grade levels, its first recorded graduating class in 1888 included four girls and two boys. The school’s roots trace back to Georgia’s 1777 constitution, which envisioned a public education system.
The original Glynn Academy building, now called Alumni Hall, was built in 1840 on Hillsborough Square and is the oldest wooden schoolhouse in Georgia. It is adjacent to the still-active Glynn Academy. It served as Brunswick’s only public school building for over 50 years and also hosted Superior Court sessions after being moved to Sterling in 1915, where it served as a school for Glynn County’s Black schoolchildren. It was returned to its original site in 2008. Today, it is the only surviving antebellum structure in Glynn County and the second-oldest wooden schoolhouse in the nation.
The Cairo School served the Cairo Community of Sumner County, Tennessee, for thirty-five years. Opened in 1923, it was built using the one-room/one-teacher Rosenwald school plan. Students attended the school up to eighth grade.
The community raised $700 for the school’s construction, while the Rosenwald fund provided $500. The Tennessee public school fund matched the community’s contribution and gave $700.
It was one of seven schools built in the county. It is one of two extant schools in the community, and both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Durham’s Chapel School was one of seven Rosenwald schools built in Sumner County, Tennessee. It was tied to the Durham’s Chapel Baptist Church. The school was constructed at $4,250; the Rosenwald Fund provided $700, and the remaining amount was divided between the local Black community and the Tennessee public school funds.
The school is a traditional two-teacher classroom with an additional industrial arts room. Built in 1923, upgrades were made to the school after Brown v. Board of Education with a stove, refrigerator, and kitchen sink.
It was places on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The school was restored in 2012 at the cost of $40,000.
I recently took a trip to Memphis. Like most trips, I planned a circuitous route using back roads. While plotting my path on Google Maps, I noticed a building identified as the LaGrange Rosenwald School. I immediately put it as a stopping point to photograph.
When I arrived in La Grange, I immediately doubted the providence of this building as a Rosenwald. There are no hallmark windows to bring light into the building, and I wondered if it was a heavily modified building. After doing some research, I could not find any confirmation that this building is a Rosenwald. It was a one-room school named the La Grange School.
Middle Tennessee State University assessed historic Black properties in Fayette County and created an informative storyboard titled “Fayette County: Places, Perspectives: African American Community-building in Tennessee, 1860-1920.” Since they did not include it in the comprehensive report, I believe it was not a Rosenwald school.
(I did update Google Maps to edit the name without Rosenwald.)
Researching this school has proven to be a bit difficult. There are several Oak Grove schools in South Carolina, and, at least, two are in the Upstate.
The first Oak Grove School in Oconee County caught fire on February 10, 1908, and was destroyed (Keowee Courier, p. 5). Later that July, it was announced that J. L. Hamby and others would help rebuild it into a three-room schoolhouse.
There was an announcement a few years ago that the school would be restored. It doesn’t appear any work has been done on it.
The signs says,
Oak Grove School
Reunion
Every 2nd Sat. in June 5 PM
Pleasant Hill
Baptist Church
Info 636-0047
