SMYRNA, Tenn. (WKRN) — In 1913, part-owner of Sears, Roebuck & Company Julius Rosenwald teamed up with Booker T. Washington to teach rural Black students.
Their efforts helped build schools like the Rosenwald School in Middle Tennessee. The school was built in Smyrna in 1927 on the old Nashville-Murfreesboro Road. There were five teachers and a handful of students. At the time, it was the largest school for Black students in Rutherford County.
The frame building had just four rooms, one of which a kitchen. It’s a building Smyrna native and Rosenwald School graduate, 83-year-old Marion Althea Appleton, remembers vividly. She spent eight years there before graduating in 1955. Appleton remembered that there was no running water or electricity in the school
Appleton also clearly recalled the sharp contrast between her education and that of other students amid segregation.
“We never got new books. We never got new desks. We always got the books from the other school. The backs would be off of them and the desks would be written on — who loved whom. And I thought, ‘You didn’t leave a spot for me to say who I loved’,” Appleton said. “I remember the guys had to walk way down the street to get us water because we didn’t have running water up here. We didn’t know any better because that was our school. I just thought that was always how it was going to be: Black and white.”
The school remained open until 1960, when it was relocated to Old Nashville Highway. More than 40 years later, the town of Smyrna received a 7-acre land donation and an additional 9.3 acres was purchased to build Hilltop Rosenwald Park. It was a project to honor those who had used the land to learn years before, according to Smyrna Parks and Recreation director Mike Moss.
In 2005, the Rosenwald Community Center opened as a replica of the original school. There was a historic dedication thanking city leaders and community members for making the center possible.
“The idea of this replica came through the committee that was put together back when we were building the park — early 2000s,” Moss said. “Some of the people you see here had pictures and brought them to the committee. We got pictures of those and showed them to our building grounds department. They made a drawing, and we said ‘We’re going to build this.'”
Moss told News 2 some don’t realize how much history sits on the property. That’s why on the walking trail in the park, there’s a timeline of historical events.
“When you look at those pictures and compare them to what we ended up getting, I think it’s spot on,” Moss said.
Every time Appleton is asked about the school, she has used it as an opportunity to not only talk about her experience, but how far the community has come.
“We made a path for you, so you don’t have to walk the same path we went,” Appleton said.
