[Posted Dec. 19, 2007]

Suffolk Alumni
Raising Funds To
Preserve Old School

    By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal & Guide
 
       Late  last week, the city of Virginia Beach finished the demolition of the building which once housed the Princess Anne County Training School.  The building had been slated for demolition since late last year. Alumni of the school held a final “walk” to signify their respect for the first public school funded to educate African Americans in that community.
      A group of Suffolk residents are working to make sure that the building which once had the title of the Nansemond County Training  School (NCTS) does not meet the same fate.

Old Nansemond County Training  School

       The 40,040 square foot building once served as the first building to provide public school education for blacks in Nansemond County,  (now the city of Suffolk). It needs a $3 million dollar facelift to  be transformed into the Community Educational Center envisioned by a group of former students and city leaders.
       The alumni, back in 2005 formed an association to spearhead the revitalization of the old building called the Nansemond County Training School Heritage Center, Inc.
        According to Waddell Baker, the president of the the Heritage Center Association (HCA), a new non-profit organization with a five- member board, the bigger task is raising the $3 million needed to restore and renovate the building.
       “We do not want this building to be torn down because the people who are working to restore it have too much love and pride for it,” said Baker, a 1956 graduate of the school  and former military man.  “While it was in use the building helped to educate the black community. It was the center of the community. We want to recreate that mission.”
       HCA wants to convert the building into a  multi-purpose community center, which will include space for a museum, a computer lab, classrooms, cultural programs, and recreation.
       “We are hoping to have a dining and serving area to train people in the culinary arts,” said  Baker.

     “We think the young people need a means  to acquire meaningful employment. Why not the restaurant business? Why not learn about computers and other things which can help them become productive people in the community?”
       HCA has  raised about $50,000, Baker said. This includes a recent $12,000 grant from Wal-Mart last week. Other donations, Baker said, are coming in each day. Before the end of the year he said he will have a complete assessment of the accounting of contributions which have been rolling in since mid-2007. The building has a Virginia Historic Landmark designation and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

      Further, the Virginia General Assembly approved a $142,000 grant in matching funds for the project.  Baker said alumni will try to raise the $300,000 needed to cover the architectural and engineering fees needed to prepare blueprint designs by mid-2008.
       The city of Suffolk has devoted money and manpower to stabilize the building and stop rain and structural aging from further eroding the 84-year-old building constructed in 1924.
       The five-person board may try to secure funds from other sources such as the federal government, corporations like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes and local organizations which would contribute to the effort.
       Baker’s classmate, State Del. Algie Howell, who represents parts of Norfolk in the General Assembly and is a 1956 graduate of the school, is the chief fundraiser for the project.
       “Our fundraising efforts will go into full operation next year,” Baker said.  “We will be asking corporate and private organizations for help. We also want the community to donate what they can. If people really care about the history and significance of this building we want them to help too. We are asking that they give what they can. Every donation can go a long way toward achieving our goal.”
       The building is located five miles west of Holland Village in Suffolk on Route 58 on Holland and Greenwood Drive. The building was closed in the 1970s, during the height of the city’s effort to desegregate its public schools.  Although it started out as a training school to help educate all black students, it was converted into a high school along with a nearby elementary school. The city finally used the building as a storage facility.
       Nansemond County Training School actually  has the historic designation as a Rosenwald School. It was built with private and public funds from black donors, the Commonwealth, the Nansemond County School District and the Rosenwald Foundation.
The Rosenwald Foundation built  367 of such facilities in Virginia. There were also  Rosenwald schools in Norfolk County (Chesapeake),  Princess Anne County (Virginia Beach), Hampton and Newport News.
       Overall, the Rosenwald Foundation built, mostly in the South and in Maryland, 4,977 of these schools of varying sizes. Most of them were one or two room schools with an average of two teachers. Most of the Rosenwald schools were built in North Carolina.  
The Rosenwald Construction program began in 1913, when Booker T. Washington, the  head of Tuskegee Institute, asked Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears and Roebuck, to use money  the philanthropist had donated to Washington’s school to build six schools for black children in counties in Alabama. 
By  the time the Rosenwald School program ended in 1932,  some 663,615 African American children had benefited from the effort.  Some 14,000 teachers found employment.  The total cost of the project was $28 million. Rosenwald donated $4 million  of his money. African Americans, mostly from churches and other fundraising efforts, contributed the rest, some $4 million from their own pockets, according to the Rosenwald Foundation.
       The remaining Rosenwald Schools are the most endangered historic structures in the United States the Foundation says.
       Not only were Rosenwald school designs specified, according to Rosenwald Foundation websites, but so were adjoining shops and homes for teachers.
       Most of them are gone now, due in part to neglect when blacks began pushing for access to white public schools after the Supreme Court declared Jim Crow schools illegal.
  Many schools were wood frame structures, but the one in Nansemond County, because of the presence of black stonemasons in the community, was made of brick and stronger materials.
       “I think we are really lucky that the original building is still standing,” said Baker.  “We hope to have the renovation project up and running within two years. Until then we will work hard to raise the monies we need to get the project accomplished. 
“This project is not just for people in Suffolk. It is a regional effort. We want everyone in this region to be able to use the facility once it is up and running. So we hope to raise money from all corners of Hampton Roads.”

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