Cleveland School is locally significant for its association with African American education in Rowan County from 1930 until 1968. The school served African American elementary and high school students in grades one through twelve in the Cleveland community and the northwest portion of Rowan County. Constructed in 1930, it was one of five schools in the county financed and constructed with the assistance of the Rosenwald fund. It is architecturally significant as an intact example of Floor Plan No. 4-B, with modifications, from Samuel L. Smith’s Community School Plan, Bulletin No. 3. The 1942 Auditorium building stands behind the school and, when constructed, resulted in the subdivision of the original auditorium. The school remained in use until 1968, when the school was closed due to integregation.
The National Register Nomination for Cleveland School was funded by an Underrepresented Community Grant to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office from the National Park Service. It is one of eight nominations for Rosenwald Schools prepared in conjunction with Firefly Preservation Consulting. It was listed in the National Register in January 2019.
Cleveland School
Rowan County, NC
West Martin School
Martin County, NC
West Martin School served the western, rural, part of Martin County including residents of Oak City, Hamilton, and Hassell and the surrounding communities, all the way to the north and west county line. As a result, it was one of only three African American high schools in Martin County and is the only extant African American high school in the western region of the county. The school represents an era of African American school construction in the 1950s through the integration period of the late 1960s.
The West Martin School complex includes four buildings: a 1951 high school building with 1956 addition, 1952 gymtorium, 1957 elementary building, and 1970 cafeteria. The use of the Modern style is illustrative of statewide trends in school design during the mid-twentieth century and is representative of the work of architect J. W. Griffith Jr. who designed numerous schools, gymnasiums, and school additions in Martin County in the 1950s and 1960s.
The National Register Nomination for West Martin School was funded by the West Martin Alumni Association/West Martin Community Center. It was listed to the National Register in 2018.
Concord School’s construction in rural Franklin County was possible because of the Rosenwald Fund, which provided architectural plans and matching grants that helped build public schools for African Americans from Maryland to Texas between the late 1910s and 1932, including more than 800 projects in North Carolina. The school is significant for its association with African American education in Franklin County from 1922, when it was built to serve students in grades one through seven, until its closure in 1955 due to school consolidation. Concord School also is important for its architecture as an intact school following Floor Plan No. 20 for a two-teacher school in the Rosenwald Fund’s Community Schools Plans, Bulletin No. 3, although slightly modified, as was common.
The National Register Nomination for Concord School was funded by an Underrepresented Community Grant to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office from the National Park Service. It is one of eight nominations for Rosenwald Schools prepared in conjunction with Firefly Preservation Consulting. It was listed in the National Register in May 2018.
Concord School
Franklin County, NC
Mars Hill School
Madison County, NC
Mars Hill School was the only school in Madison County assisted by the Rosenwald Fund and is one of only three Rosenwald schools known to be extant in the westernmost counties of North Carolina. The Fund provided architectural plans and matching grants that helped build African American schools from Maryland to Texas between the late 1910s and 1932, including 818 projects in North Carolina. Mars Hill School served elementary school students in grades one through eight in Mars Hill, Marshall, and parts of Yancey County to the east and thus is significant for its association with African American education in Madison County and western Yancey County from its construction in 1928 to its closure in 1965 following desegregation. The building is a modified example of Floor Plan No. 20 in Samuel L. Smith’s Community School Plans, Bulletin No. 3. Despite alterations and a loss of material integrity largely due to changed use and deterioration, the school, which is undergoing a thorough rehabilitation, retains distinctive characteristics of the two-teacher school plan and building form.
The National Register Nomination for Mars Hill School was funded by an Underrepresented Community Grant to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office from the National Park Service. It is one of eight nominations for Rosenwald Schools prepared in conjunction with Firefly Preservation Consulting. It was listed to the National Register in May 2018.
Canetuck School
Pender County, NC
Through its matching grant, the Rosenwald Fund enabled construction of Canetuck School in rural Pender County. The Fund provided architectural plans and matching grants that helped build African American schools from Maryland to Texas from the late 1910s to 1932, with 818 projects in North Carolina, more than any other state. The school is significant for its association with African American education in Pender County from its construction in 1921 until its closure in 1958, serving students within walking distance in grades one through six. It is also significant for its architecture as an intact school following Floor Plan No. 20 for a two-teacher school, from the Rosenwald Fund’s Community Schools Plans, Bulletin No. 3, although slightly modified, as was common.
The National Register Nomination for Canetuck School was funded by an Underrepresented Community Grant to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office from the National Park Service. It is one of eight nominations for Rosenwald Schools prepared in conjunction with Firefly Preservation Consulting. It was listed in the National Register in May 2018.
Castalia School is located in a rural area in the northwest corner of Nash County, just beyond the western municipal limits of Castalia and ten miles northwest of Nashville, the county seat. This school was one of seventeen schools in the county financed and constructed with the assistance of the Rosenwald Fund and one of only six still standing. It served African American elementary students who lived within about five miles of the school. Castalia School is eligible for listing in the National Register for its association with African American education in Nash County from 1921, when the original three-classroom building was constructed, and extending through the 1940s, when two additions were built, to 1961 when the school closed and students were transferred to Cedar Grove Elementary School in downtown Castalia.
The National Register Nomination for Castalia School was funded by an Underrepresented Community Grant to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office from the National Park Service. It is one of eight nominations for Rosenwald Schools prepared in conjunction with Firefly Preservation Consulting. It was listed in the National Register in June 2018.
Castalia School
Nash County, NC
Allen Grove School
Halifax County, NC
Allen Grove School is located in rural northeastern Halifax County, approximately two miles northwest of the town of Halifax and five-and-a-half miles south of the town of Weldon. The school was moved to its current site in 1996 from its original rural location approximately three miles to the south, where it was threatened with demolition. Allen Grove School was one of forty-six schools in Halifax County, more than any other county in the state that were financed and constructed with the assistance of the Rosenwald Fund. The two-classroom school served African American elementary students in the Allen Grove community who lived within walking distance of the school. Allen Grove School meets the National Register criteria for its local significance as an intact example of Floor Plan No. 20 from Samuel L. Smith’s Community School Plans, Bulletin No. 3.
The National Register Nomination for Allen Grove School was funded by an Underrepresented Community Grant to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office from the National Park Service. It is one of eight nominations for Rosenwald Schools prepared in conjunction with Firefly Preservation Consulting. It was listed in the National Register in May 2018.
Bladen County Training School is locally significant for its association with African American education in Bladen County from 1928 until 1970 when the school was desegregated. It was one of three schools in the county financed and constructed with the assistance of the Rosenwald Fund, which provided seed money for construction of the primary building, a ten teacher brick school erected in 1928. Additional buildings were funded by the county over the following decades. Bladen County Training School served African American students in grades 1-12. Elementary students came from the Elizabethtown community and high school students came from across Bladen County, as it was the county’s first high school for African American students.
The National Register Nomination for Bladen County Training School was funded by an Underrepresented Community Grant to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office from the National Park Service. It is one of eight nominations for Rosenwald Schools prepared in conjunction with Firefly Preservation Consulting. It was listed in the National Register in September 2018.
Bladen County Training School
Bladen County, NC
Constructed in 1924 just east of Wilkesboro, the Lincoln Heights School is historically significant for its association with the education of African American children across a four-county region. The original building, constructed with financial assistance from the Julius Rosenwald Fund, was expanded in 1926 and 1950. Additional buildings, including a combination agricultural shop and cafeteria, high school building, and gymnasium, were built between 1956 and 1963 across the roughly nine-acre campus. The complex was in use until 1968, when Wilkes County schools were integrated. Lincoln Heights School is also significant as an intact example of a six-teacher Rosenwald School.
The National Register Nomination for Lincoln Heights School was funded by an Underrepresented Community Grant to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office from the National Park Service. It is one of eight nominations for Rosenwald Schools prepared in conjunction with Firefly Preservation Consulting. It was listed to the National Register in September 2018.