Galesville in Anne Arundel County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
The Heart of Galesville's Black Community
The Galesville Rosenwald School
Photographed by Pete Skillman, May 29, 2026
1. The Heart of Galesville's Black Community Marker
Inscription.
The Heart of Galesville's Black Community. The Galesville Rosenwald School. The Galesville Rosenwald School was built in 1929 as a segregated one-room schoolhouse. Funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald program, Black students in grades 1 through 8 were educated here until 1956 when Anne Arundel County's schools were integrated. The historic building--now the Galesville Community Center--was lovingly restored in 2010-2011. It remains an active community center, regularly hosting educational programs, events, and social gatherings.
George Gale-for whom Galesville is named-set aside this land for a school around 1849. By 1878 a whites only school stood on this parcel. In 1889, when a new schoolhouse for white students was built on nearby Church Lane, the old schoolhouse was handed down to the community's Black students. It burned in 1926, and students were forced to attend a makeshift school three miles away in Owensville. The community needed a new school.
Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, philanthropist and president of Sears Roebuck, launched a progressive funding initiative from 1912-1932 to help Black communities build state-of-the-art educational facilities across the rural South. Rosenwald Schools were designed to create a healthy learning environment. By 1928, they served one-third of the South's rural Black schoolchildren.
Funding for Galesville's new Black school was a collaborative effort between the community, the county, and the Rosenwald Fund. The school was constructed in 1929 as a one-room plan. In 1931, a second classroom was added and by 1944, 81 students were enrolled. With integration in 1956, the Galesville Rosenwald School was closed. Its students were bussed to Shady Side until the county's first integrated school to be constructed--Carrie Weedon School--opened in 1961.
Twenty-three recorded Rosenwald Schools were constructed in Anne Arundel County during segregation, of which 12 survive today. Rosenwald Schools like Galesville, often built near a church or other community amenities, became central and vital gathering spaces for the community.
A Preservation Story 40+ Years in the Making
In 1957, led by Harriet Hall (Hull), the community formed an association to save their old schoolhouse. The group staged annual fundraising parades and pageants to buy the building. In 1958, the Board of Education sold the schoolhouse to the Galesville Community Center Organization, Inc. for $1,000.
In the early 1990s, GCC(O) President Arlene Foote-Johnson stabilized the building. The organization's next president, Gertrude Makell, led a sensitive historic restoration effort, re-establishing the building as the heart and soul of a community. The schoolhouse is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing building to the West Benning Road Historic District.
[Captions]: Since 1929, Galesville's Rosenwald School has served as a symbol of pride for the Black community. Courtesy of GCCO.
Pageants (left), parades (right) and other fundraising events helped Galesville's Black community to purchase the school. Courtesy of GCCO.
The Galesville Rosenwald School was built in 1929 as a segregated one-room schoolhouse.
Funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald program, Black students in grades 1 through 8 were
educated here until 1956 when Anne Arundel County's schools were integrated. The historic
building--now the Galesville Community Center--was lovingly restored in 2010-2011. It
remains an active community center, regularly hosting educational programs, events, and
social gatherings.
George Gale-for whom Galesville is named-set aside this land for a school around 1849. By 1878 a whites only school stood on this parcel. In 1889, when a new schoolhouse for white students was built on nearby Church Lane, the old schoolhouse was handed down to the community's Black students. It burned in 1926, and students were forced to attend a makeshift school three miles away in Owensville. The community needed a new school.
Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald, philanthropist and president of Sears Roebuck, launched a progressive funding initiative from 1912-1932 to help Black communities build state-of-the-art educational facilities across the rural South. Rosenwald Schools were designed to create a healthy learning environment. By 1928, they served one-third of the South's rural Black schoolchildren.
Funding for Galesville's
Click or scan to see this page online
new Black school was a collaborative effort between the community, the county, and the Rosenwald Fund. The school was constructed in 1929 as a one-room plan. In 1931, a second classroom was added and by 1944, 81 students were enrolled. With integration in 1956, the Galesville Rosenwald School was closed. Its students were bussed to Shady Side until the county's first integrated school to be constructed--Carrie Weedon School--opened in 1961.
Twenty-three recorded Rosenwald Schools were constructed in Anne Arundel County during segregation, of which 12 survive today. Rosenwald Schools like Galesville, often built near a church or other community amenities, became central and vital gathering spaces for the community.
A Preservation Story 40+ Years in the Making
In 1957, led by Harriet Hall (Hull), the community formed an association to save their old schoolhouse. The group staged annual fundraising parades and pageants to buy the building. In 1958, the Board of Education sold the schoolhouse to the Galesville Community Center Organization, Inc. for $1,000.
In the early 1990s, GCC(O) President Arlene Foote-Johnson stabilized the building. The organization's next president, Gertrude Makell, led a sensitive historic restoration effort, re-establishing the building as the heart and soul of a community. The schoolhouse
Photographed by Pete Skillman, May 29, 2026
2. The Heart of Galesville's Black Community Marker - wide view
is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing building to the West Benning Road Historic District.
[Captions]:
Since 1929, Galesville's Rosenwald School has served as a symbol of pride for the Black community. Courtesy of GCCO.
Pageants (left), parades (right) and other fundraising events helped Galesville's Black community to purchase the school. Courtesy of GCCO.
Erected by Anne Arundel County Recreation and Parks.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Education. A significant historical year for this entry is 1929.
Location. 38° 50.868′ N, 76° 33.002′ W. Marker is in Galesville, Maryland, in Anne Arundel County. It is on Benning Road, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 916 Benning Rd, Galesville MD 20765, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Central Maryland. It is also in the American Mid-Atlantic and in the Chesapeake Bay Region. 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 one of the original Thirteen Colonies and also the Antebellum South.
Regarding The Heart of Galesville's Black Community. While the marker claims that this building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, no listing can be found as of the publication date on HMdb.
Photographed by Pete Skillman, May 29, 2026
4. The Heart of Galesville's Black Community Marker
The building as it appears today.
Credits. This page was last revised on June 1, 2026. It was originally submitted on May 29, 2026, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware. This page has been viewed 8 times since then. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on May 29, 2026, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware.
