Price Public Elementary School, now known as Price Public Community Center and Swift Museum, is a former African-American school in Rogersville, Tennessee. It currently serves as a community center and home of the Swift Museum.
Price Public Elementary School | |
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| Location | Hasson and Spring Sts., Rogersville, Tennessee |
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| Coordinates | 36°24′34″N 83°0′32″W / 36.40944°N 83.00889°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1923 |
| NRHP reference No. | 88002538[1] |
| Added to NRHP | November 10, 1988 |
The site of the school was dedicated to African-American education in 1868, when Alexander Fain, Jordan Netherland, Albert Jones and Nathaniel Mitchell bought the land "for the purpose of building a schoolhouse for the education of colored children." A schoolhouse was built and used until the early 1900s. The current building replaced it in 1922.[2]
Price School operated until 1958, when it closed and its students were transferred to Swift High School, which was converted from a high school to a grade K-12 school.[3] When integration took place in Rogersville, during the 1960s, the city's African-American elementary school students were transferred to Rogersville City School, also a K-8 institution. The Price School building was subsequently used as a cannery, a community center, and a storage building,[2] then was abandoned and became run-down.
The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.[1]
The building underwent a restoration beginning in the mid-1990s as a result of cooperative efforts between the town, the local African-American community, the local American Legion Auxiliary, the Chamber of Commerce, the Rogersville Heritage Association, and other civic organizations.[3] The project was aided by a rural development grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.[2] Following restoration, in 2003 the Price Public Community Center opened in the building.[2] The Swift Museum in the center opened to the public in 2008.[4] The community center and museum offer resources for learning and teaching about African-American history and culture.[2][3]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "$84,000 grant to fund Price Public School restoration project - Building will become new community center". Rogersville Review. July 24, 2002. Archived from the original on January 4, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Price Public Community Center & Swift Museum". AT&T Tennessee African-American History Calendar. AT&T. September 2013. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
- ^ "Swift Museum organizers ready to welcome public". Rogersville Review. February 5, 2008. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
Further reading edit
- History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present. Nashville: Goodspeed. 1887. OCLC 7914830.
- Price, Henry R (2002). Old Rogersville: An Illustrated History of Rogersville, Tennessee. Vol. 1. Rogersville: H R Price. OCLC 51158046.
- Price, Henry R (1996). Hawkins County: A Pictorial History. Virginia Beach: Donnings Co. ISBN 0-89865-974-4.
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