Manassas Industrial School Farm

Manassas Industrial School Farm. , Imagine the sounds and smells of cows, horses, and pigs filling the air and harvested crops overflowing from a large silo. If you were standing in this spot in 1910, that's exactly what you would have experienced. This site, today a public park owned by the City of Manassas, was once dominated by large barns owned by the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth (MIS). A residential school for Black students at a time when education was strictly segregated by race. MIS offered academic and vocational courses. The animals were part of the parming operation run by the school. As they cared for the animals and the farm, students learend new skills while earning their tuition, room, and board. All excess products were sold to support the school, helping to offset operating expenses. The 1904 school year report shows students harvested tons of fruits, vegetables, and fodder, all while tending to three horses, eight cows, five brood sows, and eleven young pigs., [Sidebar:] , When the Manassas Industrial School opened in 1894, it was the largest in Prince William County in terms of land. The once sprawling campus included residential and academic buildings, orchards of fruit trees, acres of gardens, barns, and other support buildings. much of this land was dedicated to farming operations run by the students. This aerial photograph from 1937 shows a portion of the school's campus. , , Manassas Museum Collection, [Captions:] , A school report from 1904 shows the amount of vegetables grown and harvested by the school. , , Manassas Museum Collection, A view of the farm operated by the school with the rest of the campus in the background, ca. 1910. , , Manassas Museum Collection, A grain silo rises beside a dairy barn, ca. 1908. Students built both of these structures. , , Courtesy of the Virginia State Library, Students pose outside the dairy barn they constructed, ca. 1910. , , Manassas Museum Collection