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Photographer: Keith Peterson
Taken: October 6, 2013
Caption: Hopewell School
Additional Description: Constructed in the 1921-22 school year, Round Rock County Training School (Hopewell) became the second of four schools in Williamson County to offer secondary education for African American children and to be built with financial assistance from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation of Chicago, Illinois.

During this time there was concern in Williamson Country that the older children in the black communities would leave the family farms in search of better schools and jobs in the cities. It was S.C. Marshall, then principal of the Georgetown Colored School, who first talked of establishing a country training school in the country. County training schools were those that offered courses at the high school level, which was uncommon in the early 20th century.

The 1921 "County Colored School Fair", which was organized by Jeanes teacher Mary J. Sims, featured student exhibits and a short course in vocational education for teachers and fair attendees. Speakers from around Texas spoke, including R.L. Smith, founder and President of the Farmer's Home Improvement Society. Inspired by the activities of the day, the following Sunday a meeting was held in Round Rock to discuss "The Proposed Colored Industrial School".

Julius Rosenwald, then President of Sears and Roebuck and Co. created the Rosenwald Fun in 1914 to assist rural African American communities in the south with the construction of buildings that reflected modern schoolhouse design. Funding was provided on a matching basis - for every dollar that Rosenwald donated the community had to give one dollar.

Financial assistance for the fund was offered for the first time in Texas in 1920. Placing Hopewell among the first schools to be funded. Other Rosenwald schools in Williamson County included Granger (1920), Coupland (1923), and Circleville (1926).

In 1966, the doors closed forever on Hopewell as an education facility.
Submitted: October 6, 2013, by Keith Peterson of Cedar Park, Texas.
Database Locator Identification Number: p256280
File Size: 2.545 Megabytes

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