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Rosenwald School
922 West Benning Road
Galesville, Maryland
Anne Arundel County
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| Situated off West Benning Road in Anne Arundel County, Maryland,
the one-story Galesville School served as a primary (Kindergarten
through Sixth grade) school for the African-American community
in Galesville from 1929 to 1956. One of twenty-three Rosenwald
schools originally built in the county, today it is one of only
ten surviving. |
The inferior standards of black education legalized
by Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 provided Julius Rosenwald, president
of Sears,
Roebuck, and Company, with the motivation to create a fund to
facilitate the development of progressive African-American schools
throughout the South. Beginning in 1917, largely stimulated by
the wisdom of Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald offered matching
funds totaling millions of dollars to African-American communities
in fifteen Southern states. (Granat, 35) From the time of the
fund’s
creation until Rosenwald’s death in 1932, some 5000 schools
were created and his funding helped establish “[a] viable
program of universal education for rural southern blacks.” ("Rosenwald
Schools of Anne Arundel County, MD," 6) In Maryland, Rosenwald’s
program funded 262 schools.
In addition to a monetary donation, Rosenwald provided recipients with architectural
plans to ensure the creation of the most state-of-art, innovative Colonial Revival
style school buildings. Designs emphasized providing the maximum amount of space
at a minimal cost. The buildings were to be only one story in height with wooden
floors and plastered walls. The most characteristic feature of the school was
the grouping of tall double-hung sash windows, intentionally facing east and
west to allow natural sunlight into the school, reducing the need for electric
lighting. Finally, the interior and exterior walls were to be painted in light
colors, such as white, cream, buff, and ivory, for aesthetic and sanitary reasons. ("Rosenwald
Schools of Anne Arundel County, MD," 7-8)
With funds totaling $1900 coming from the Rosenwald Foundation, the local black
community, and Anne Arundel County, construction of the school began in 1929
and took the plan of a typical Rosenwald school, measuring 24 feet wide by 36
feet deep. ("Rosenwald Schools of Anne Arundel County, MD," 14) According
to former students, the original building consisted of
three
rooms, which accommodated the “two teacher plan.” ("Rosenwald
Schools of Anne Arundel County, MD," 9) A concrete path
led directly to a covered porch on the south gable end of the school, which was
originally the front elevation of the building. The front door opened one into
the coatroom, which then led directly to the main classroom. North of the coatroom
was a smaller room, with a window in the gable end, where one teacher worked
with a small portion of the class separately while the majority of the students
remained in the larger room with another teacher. On the northwest and the northeast
walls of the main room were large chalkboards where students would practice spelling
and math problems. Windows on the east wall allowed sunlight into the school
and provided a cool breeze on warm days. A pot-belly stove stood directly outside
the coatroom and the smaller teaching room, providing heat to both portions of
the building. Wood and coal fueled the stove and these materials were kept outside
in a structure called the “Coal House;” it is no longer standing. |
| In 1931, the two-year-old school was expanded to accommodate
a rapidly growing student population. The current gable-roofed
building took shape after the original southwest (front) wall
was removed and both the southeast and the northwest wall were
extended to the present length of 67 feet wide by 24 feet deep. |
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The southeast elevation was now the new front façade
of the school. Sitting on rusticated stone piers, the southeast
elevation faces the road and local housing subdivision. Horizontal
wooden board siding sheathes the exterior walls. The southeast
elevation now contains six small windows that flank the front
double doors that swing away from the school, as well as
a covered porch with concrete steps. A seven-light transom
is located directly above the door. |
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| The southwest wall contains two windows, both
currently boarded up, while the northeast wall has none. On the
northwest wall
are ten nine-over-nine-light windows, double-hung sash, five
on each side of the double doors. Similar windows were originally
on the southeast wall, but were removed during the new construction
in 1931. |
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| Today, the interior consists of a large
open space, measuring 54 feet by 23 feet, which served as
the classroom. A chimney stack jogs out from the wall on
the south gable end. The floors have modern laminated flooring. |
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A modern kitchen and closet, each measuring
6’ by 12,’ occupy the north gable end. The walls
in the classroom are covered in modern wood paneling, while
the kitchen and closet both have painted walls with wainscoting
below the chair rail. |
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| Although it lacked a vestibule that Hosanna,
Rock Elementary, and Worton Point all had, the Galesville Rosenwald
School maintained
a large open space for the main classroom (after 1931), with
(at one time) chalkboards and desks to facilitate educational
endeavors. While Galesville used similar means to heat the building,
a coal-burning pot-bellied stove, as the other schools, it differed
from Hosanna, Rock Elementary, and Worton Point with the use
of very tall windows to maximize light and ventilation in the
school. Much like the other school buildings, the windows and
doors were placed symmetrically to maintain an ordered appearance. |
| As public education entered a phase of integration
in 1956, the Galesville School closed its doors. Two years later,
the
school was auctioned off for $1000 to William Woodfield, who
donated the building to the Galesville Community Center Organization.
Following a strong African-American tradition in which school
buildings also served as community meeting houses, the Galesville
School provided the black community with a social hall and recreation
center. As time passed, the building was neglected but never
forgotten and currently, efforts are under way to revive the
building as a social center for Galesville’s African-American
community and as a museum that will focus on black culture and
community in the town. Currently, efforts are under way to secure
501-C3 status for the school, which is being funded by the Galesville
Heritage Society. Until proper measures can be taken to restore
the school, local individuals have boarded up the windows to
protect the interior from outside elements. The community is
certainly sensitive to the historical significance of the property
and is doing its part to preserve its Rosenwald School, a building
type which the National Trust for Historical Properties recognized
as one of the eleven most endangered historic places in the United
States in 2002.(Granat, 35) In addition, NTHP has recently published
(2003) a book entitled, Preserving Rosenwald Schools, by author
Mary
S. Hoffschelle, that will enable citizens of Galesville to save
their school, by profits reaped from the publication. |
Jack Smith (410 867-1215
Gertrude Makell (410) 867-4612/grandkids_0011/msn.com |
Granat, Diane. “More Than Blue Skies,” Preservation. (July/August
2003).
National Register of Historic Places Form, “Rosenwald Schools of Anne Arundel
County, MD. |
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