First Rosenwald School

First Rosenwald School. . , Side 1 , On this site once stood the first of over 5,300 Rosenwald schools for black children built between 1913 and 1932. The schools were started in a collaboration between Julius Rosenwald, CEO of Sears, Roebuck, and Company and Booker T. Washington, Principal of Tuskegee Institute. The dedication was held on May 18, 1913. Rosenwald grew up poor and believed in self-help; consequently, he paid for only part of the expenses to build the schools. The rest was to be raised by community members, both black and white. All of the schools were built from a selection of plans designed by an architect at Tuskegee Institute. (Continued on other side). Side 2 (Continued from other side). The first teacher at the Loachapoka school was L. Pearl Rouseau. Initially, there was no principal; the school was overseen by the State. The initial school year lasted only three months; the second was expanded to nine months. Basic courses in reading and arithmetic were taught in the one-room building, with no power or plumbing. Rosenwald gave three hundred dollars toward the school, and the remainder of the total cost of nine hundred forty-two dollars and forty-six cents was given by local residents, both black and white, along with the labor. This school was the only source for educating black citizens in the area. It closed in the late 1950's.