Stephens City in Frederick County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Stephens City Rosenwald School
Photographed by Bradley Owen, October 13, 2024
1. Stephens City Rosenwald School Marker
Here, next to Locust Grove Cemetery, stood a school the entire community sponsored. It was a "Rosenwald School." To qualify for a Rosenwald grant, African Americans had to raise additional money, and in Stephens City they did. With public funding and contributions from the town and also from white citizens, this school for Black children opened in 1921.
(Captions):
Built to a Rosenwald design, the Stephens City Colored School had a large classroom with tall windows on one side. One teacher taught grades 1-7. After the building was destroyed by arson in 1939, a similar school was built on the site with public funds. This school operated until Virginia's schools integrated in the 1960s.
Julius Rosenwald
Booker T. Washington
The Rosenwald Fund was a partnership between Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck and Company in Chicago, and Booker T. Washington, principal of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. To improve education for African American children, they helped finance 5000 public primary schools across the segregated South, including this one.
Students from the mid-1930s. Their teacher, Blanche Gibson, is pictured in the center.
Photos courtesy of the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives of the Handley Regional Library and the Winchester-Frederick
this page online
Erected by Winchester-Frederick County Tourism, the Newtown History Center of the Stone House Foundation, and the Local Black History Task Force.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Education. A significant historical year for this entry is 1921.
Location. 39° 5.16′ N, 78° 13.235′ W. Marker is in Stephens City, Virginia, in Frederick County. It is on Martin Street (Local Route 1001) east of Grove Street (Local Route 1011), on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1094 Martin Street, Stephens City VA 22655, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, and in the Mid-Atlantic. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Andrew Pitman House (approx. Ό mile away); Hunter's Raid Begins (approx. Ό mile away); Patriot Burials (approx. Ό mile away); A Chapel of Their Own (approx. 0.3 miles away); Revolutionary War Patriots Buried in this Historic Cemetery (approx. 0.3 miles away); The Old Graveyard (approx. 0.3 miles away); In Memory of All American Veterans (approx. 0.4 miles away); Newtown Stephensburg Historic District (approx. 0.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Stephens City.
Photographed by Bradley Owen, October 13, 2024
2. Stephens City Rosenwald School Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on October 13, 2024. It was originally submitted on October 13, 2024, by Bradley Owen of Morgantown, West Virginia. This page has been viewed 228 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on October 13, 2024, by Bradley Owen of Morgantown, West Virginia.
