Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Pending the review and recommendation of the Monticello Historic Review Design Board (HDRB), an application that seeks to designate the Old Howard Academy on Mamie Scott Drive as a National Historic Site will be submitted to the National Register of Historic Places.
Monticello Mayor Julie Conley, in a letter to the HDRB, expressed her support for the project and strongly encouraged the group to recommend the historic black school for inclusion in the National Register.
“The Old Howard Academy served the African-American community, not just as an educational center, but also as an important cultural facility,” Conley wrote. “The distinguished staff of the school influenced generations of city and county residents, and many alumni and their families are actively engaged in historical preservation efforts and have organized use of the grounds for community events.”
National recognition of the structures, Conley added, would go a long way towards assisting with the present preservation effort and also enlightening future generations on the local black educational heritage.
The national designation is being sought by the Howard Academy Educational and Recreational Council Inc. (HAERC), which owns the property and is leading the effort to restore the two buildings. Gladys Roann-Watson, chair of the Old Howard Academy, and Annie Albert, historic preservationist, prepared the application.
The Academy, which consists of two buildings, was constructed between 1934 and 1940 (1934-36 for the first, and 1936-40 for the second), and it served as the public school for the African-American community in Jefferson County for many years.
Both buildings, per the application, are vernacular-styled wood-frame structures that feature gabled roofs, balloon frames, drop-wood sidings and brick piers that sit on a 1.44-acre lot in the city’s northeast quadrant.
Building One, as described in the application, contains five classrooms whose interiors are relatively intact and feature the original narrow board ceilings and walls. The building is further described as structurally sound but in poor condition cosmetically. Building one is the closest to Chestnut Street off Mamie Scott Drive.
Building two, which runs north and south along Mamie Scott Driver, has all the characteristics of the Rosenwald Community School Plan, according to the application.
Meaning that the building’s construction was understated in style and innovative in design, consisting of a simple frame structure that is topped with a gabled roof and equipped with large window for light diffusion, multifunctional blackboards, heating stoves and bathrooms.
Indeed, according to the application, the plan, construction, materials and bearings for Building Two are detailed in the Rosenwald Community School Plan that the Work Progress Administration (WPA) completed in 1940 during the New Deal.
Building Two’s interior is also largely intact and contains classrooms, a kitchen and pantry, a cafeteria that also doubled as a classroom, a performance stage, the principal’s office and bathrooms. The floors are tongue and groove, the ceilings made of boards with beaded grooves and wainscoting runs along the lower walls.
Dr. Willet A. Boyer, an associate scholar at the Aucilla Research Institute, is reported to have conducted an archaeological investigation of the Old Howard Academy site and uncovered 19th Century artifacts on the property.
Interesting as the finds were, however, it’s not likely that the investigation will yield new information about the property surrounding Old Howard Academy, according to the researchers.
The application notes that the buildings have undergone minor alterations during the years, as different entities have utilized them for different purposes. It cites as examples, the conversion of three closets into restrooms in the 1970s when one of the buildings served as day care center; the addition of a wooden ramp to the front entrance in the 1990s to make the facility ADA compliant; and the installation of air conditioning units and ceiling fans in the 1990s to cool the facility.
The application argues that the buildings have maintained their integrity of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association and are integral to the African-American community and reminiscent of its early school history.
Preservation of the buildings, according to the application, is championed by its alumni, many of which have gone on to stellar careers.
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