Laney SchoolStill standing in southern Union County is the Laney School, named for the family that donated the land. A field trip to the south end of the country yields discovery and opportunity to photograph an artifact. Ms. Gamble’s directions from the Heritage Room were helpful. A missed turn at Wolf Pond, a fork in the road, required study of the Union County map. Two more right turns at Macedonia Church Road rewards this novice historian in search of an artifact. Set beyond a vacant soybean field, the ground covered with purple cowslip flowers, stood a rectangular building with a row of windows facing west. Although the original has been altered with materials that were not in existence in 1919, about construction time, the form still reflects a Rosenwald one-teacher plan. The plans were drawn by Rosenwald Fund administrator Samuel L. Smith for consistency and cost savings for some 5,300 schools in 15 states in the South (Kendrick, 1993). Typically, a row of five nine-over-nine pane windows is a marker. At Laney School, they were on one wall facing southwest; however, they have been replaced with four six-over-six windows centered on the wall. One was covered in 1983. (Kendrick, 1993). Square windows were set high on the east wall to reduce heat in the summer and save it in the winter. On the south wall, an enclosed doorway is balanced with windows on either side. They would have allowed light into cloak rooms. In the rear, another entrance is on the far west end of the wall, to allow space for a blackboard to be hung the same wall. An out-of-place electric meter hangs on the rear exterior wall, which faces Antioch Church, that uses the building as storage. Yellow vinyl siding has covered the oak or pine siding and asphalt shingles replaced the tin roof. Rafters once left open for ventilation have been boxed closed. In front, a brick well is topped with a wooden crossbar from which a rusty bucket hangs. It is the only memorial marker. The well’s cement cover has an almost illegible epithet. Only "school" is recognizable. Patricia Poland, resource specialist at the Dickerson Genealogy & Local History Room of the Union County Public Library, suggested a classroom project to have the state erect a historical marker for the school. She dismissed the idea saying the site is too remote to meet state guidelines for highway markers. Still, an ambitious teacher might find community philanthropists to fund a more suitable memorial. The effort would echo the spirit of cooperation required by Rosenwald to build the schools. |
Rosenwald Schools in Union County